It’s almost over. Tuesday brings Election Day here in the United States, a moment for each of us to solemnly express our civic opinions through the exercise of democracy. After that, things will calm down. Political disputes will fade into the background and everyone will turn their attention toward the hard work facing our troubled commu…
Ha! Had you there. Oh, we’re going to keep fighting. America has decided to save cooperation and the common good for some distant future after we’ve thoroughly trashed ourselves. Then, we’ll talk. Until then, aggressive memes and lawn signs for everyone.
I wrote about political signs six years ago, but have some new observations since then.
First of all, some of the lawn signs that went up supporting former President Trump’s first campaign in 2016 have never been taken down. In contrast, Democrats, contractors and stump grinders generally take down their signs at some point.
These eternal signs decay into tatters before being replaced by new ones. As a result, some physical spaces have sported Trump signs since peak Pokemon GO. I have no reason to think they’ll come down now, regardless of the outcome of Election 2024.
One explanation for this is fanaticism. But it’s not so simple. Trump accelerated a trend that had started years earlier: getting supporters to buy signs rather than giving them away.
Yard signs were originally the primary job of campaigns, unless people made their own at home. During the heyday of Iron Range DFL politics, a pallet of signs would come paid for by the party. Supporters “signed” up for delivery (pun intended) and volunteers would go put them in peoples’ yards on some lovely fall Saturday. More signs would be kept at the headquarters for people to get if they missed out. Once the signs were gone, that was it. No more signs. This was more or less how it worked for both parties.
The real miracle came after the election, however. The weekend after the election, volunteers would go back out and retrieve the signs. In many cases, they’d save them for the next election (assuming the candidate won). Of course, a lot of supporters took down the signs themselves and saved them to paint over for rummage sales or to line the inside of a shed.
When online fundraising became the lifeblood of American politics in the mid-2000s, things started to change. Big national campaigns realized they could make additional revenue by selling merchandise to their most dedicated supporters. T-shirts and mugs were popular, but what people really wanted were yard signs they could put up before their local party organization’s got the big shipment of signs.
Campaigns quickly realized what they could do. If people bought the signs, campaigns would save vast amounts of money and time once spent giving them away. Local parties could sometimes underwrite the cost to give away signs, but the costs now require more contributions from individuals to distribute signs.
Once people put their own money into something, it becomes sunk cost. Why would you ever take down something you paid for? Because the Trump campaign spun off its own commercial operation to a historic degree, it effectively merged retail politics with retail sales. As a result, yard signs now endure like garden gnomes.
Other campaigns mimmic this trend, for better or worse. Mostly worse. Thus, enthusiasts for both parties are getting nuttier about the sign wars. Add in flags and banners and even more money pours into the pockets of campaigns.
Another factor in the sign wars is theft. Sign-stealing is usually the work of the dregs of any given “side.” The least disciplined, most unstable supporters generally cook up these nighttime raids on their own. But now that people are paying for signs much of the time, it becomes much more ugly and personal for the people affected.
It doesn’t really matter how the signs disappear. The highway department could confiscate them from the right-of-ways. Or maybe the wind, snow and rain of eight years of social media-fueled political lunacy slowly disintegrates the signs like the etchings on an ancient grave. It all means the same thing: more signs sold, more signs put up.
Twenty years ago, I put up signs to express my political views. But once I realized how much the signs divide our communities, I stopped. It’s perfectly fine during the three months prior to an election, but of no good use any other time of year.
Everyone with a sign in their yard has made up their mind about the election. But here’s an area where we can agree. Next week, take down your damn signs. All of you. Election season needs to end. Those who say otherwise have nothing useful to offer the conversation.
Aaron J. Brown is an author and college instructor from northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. He writes the blog MinnesotaBrown.com and co-hosts the podcast “Power in the Wilderness” on Northern Community Radio. This piece first appeared in the Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 edition of the Mesabi Tribune.
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