My two signs, well spaced, to promote the bandwagon effect.
Girding for the primary that is finally about to occur, I went to Biden HQ and picked me up a couple of yard signs, and put them up over the weekend.
And in my Republican neighborhood, I felt very smug and secure in my belief that my message would dominate, because I had not yet seen a single other sign for a primary candidate in the whole subdivision. And we walk about the neighborhood a lot (still maintaining an average of more than 11,000 steps a day).
But then on Sunday, on a whim, I decided to take a different course — I proposed we cut through this little park we have that’s way down at the base of the dam for one of the neighborhood’s two lakes, then climb up the other side of the park to a street we haven’t walked on in years, on the opposite side of the other lake from where we normally walk.
And there, I saw it. An enemy sign. So now, the battle has been joined. I’m using these war metaphors, of course, because this was an Elizabeth Warren sign, and you know how she’s all about fighting. Fight, fight, fight…
But fear not! We’re still in the lead, because I’ve got two signs. I live on a huge lot on a corner, so I put one of them along the main drag in front of the house, and the other facing the side street. They’re far enough apart that even if you’re at an angle where you can see both (above), it’s kind of like they’re in two separate yards next to each other. (Were this Shandon, they’d seem to be at least two yards apart.)
This promotes the bandwagon effect: Dang, it looks like everybody around here’s for Joe! I’d better get on board! Sneaky, huh?
Of course, truth be told, you can’t tell all that much from signs in this neighborhood. Before the 2016 GOP primary, there was one Trump sign in the neighborhood. It was several blocks away, and every time I saw it, I thought something like, I guess there’s one in every neighborhood. (Kind of like what my Republican neighbors are thinking about me about now.)
But Trump won my precinct, so…
Anyway, I can’t control all that. I can just do my bit for Joe, and let the chips fall…
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As wars go, I guess this is kind of like that movie, “Hell in the Pacific.” You ever see that? There were only two actors in it — Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune. They played an American and a Japanese stranded together on a deserted island during WWII.
They conduct a very private and inconclusive little war, leading to a detente when they decide to work together and help each other survive.
It’s a bit more hard-edged than Crosby, Stills and Nash’s “Wooden Ships” (“say, can I have some of your purple berries…”) but you get the idea…
Comments on THE STATE endorsing “Mayor Pete?” Perhaps you are already working on another post …
No, I don’t feel like I should comment one way or the other. The endorsement stands for itself, sinking or swimming on its own terms, and it’s up to readers to decide what they get out of it….
But I’ll tell you what I thought of the NYT’s “on the one hand; on the other hand” endorsement of BOTH Warren and Klobuchar. I thought it was stupid, and an abdication of responsibility by a great institution. If the Times can’t make its mind up, how the hell do they think voters are going to do so?
They made the difficult task of choosing the right person to beat Trump look impossible. They threw up their hands, which seems to imply we should all do the same…
Whatever you think of the paper’s choice or how it was presented, you’ve got to hand one thing to The State: they went ahead and picked somebody, just as voters have to do…
No signs in my neighborhood. I am not big on bumper stickers although my oldest has a Bernie bumper sticker.
… or girl.
But seriously… hey, one or two of my kids like Bernie, too. I’m proud of them for going their own way, but it’s not the way I’m going to go…