The Canadian futurist Marshall McLuhan was famous for the phrase, “the medium is the message.” Nowhere is this more true when it comes to political signs in local races.
In this political season, we see them, small and large, springing up like mushrooms. Though, they have a longer life span since they will be around until the general election in November. The smaller signs are the most prevalent, probably because they are the least expensive. And let’s face it, very few of us are willing to have some large, bold sign taking up our yard unless perhaps we are related to the candidate.
The ones I appreciate are those in our residential neighborhood yards where we have educated ourselves and made thoughtful, affirmative decisions on who we are going to support as our elected representatives.
I dislike political signs when they are plastered on telephone poles and sitting in city rights of way. When they have been placed willy-nilly in areas that clearly have not gotten permission for their installation and they become simply conflicting visual clutter that we begin to ignore immediately and resent later. It does a disservice to the messenger and the message.
I also really, really hate the signs that linger long after the election is over. They are political litter and they cheapen the process. If you put it up, you need to take it down in a timely fashion. A well-organized campaign is prepared to do just that.
There are also some clear guidelines in the city of Starkville for where and what size signs can go in any given location.
Enforcement is a bit tricky for city employees during municipal elections, but the ordinance is relatively straightforward. One of the obligations of the candidates is to make sure they and their campaign workers are knowledgeable about the rules and they abide by them.
I love the political signs because it means the candidates are getting out and meeting their prospective constituents. They are working to convince the voters they have something to offer as elected leaders. It is the process that has the best chance of success to give us good representation. Face-to-face encounters allow for robust dialogue and a fair exchange of ideas.
Most of the time signs say something about the resident and about the candidate. Interestingly enough, it isn’t necessarily representative of their voting plans. It might be who asked and who didn’t or someone who just doesn’t know how to say “no.”
When I was running for mayor, I got approval to put up a sign in a very prominent yard and by that I mean a yard that was the entrance to a strong neighborhood voting block. Needless to say I was pretty stoked, and then, lo and behold, a couple of weeks later, mine came down and my opponent’s went up. When I asked what had caused the shift in opinion, the response was that his wife liked the other candidate and it wasn’t worth the marital strife. Nuff said. I still won the election and supposedly got at least one of those two votes.
It becomes even more interesting when you see a house divided. Two competing candidates can get signs in the same yard. It is fun to drive by and try to figure out which candidate goes with which member of the household. Candidates make a big mistake to assume that the residents of any one household are in concert about their voting plans.
There are more and more of us who know fewer and fewer of us. Whether that lack of contact and remoteness is due to simple issues of proximity or to our insular tendencies from technology or some other unknown factors, I don’t know, but it makes deciding how to vote a challenge.
How do we make those judgments on which candidate we are going to support? The yard signs are indicative of what your neighbors may be thinking, and it serves as an open invitation to ask them what is it about that candidate that makes them believe in him or her.
Signs can be the catalyst that starts a conversation. Those conversations get us educated enough to make good choices which should then make for good government and that, after all, is the end game.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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