The first great internal debate of my campaign for New Albany city council at-large has unexpectedly come in the realm of propaganda, or to be more precise, a Shakespearean question: “To yard sign, or not to yard sign.”One might spend hours, preferably over Progressive Pints, debating the relative merits and demerits of politics, the American political system, and the political impulse in a context of perplexing, deviant human behavior, but the single most enduringly annoying aspect of local politics to me is the unquestioned assumption that there exists one way, and one way alone, to go about campaigning for public office.
Granted, politics and prostitution remain among the world’s oldest professions, but at least brothels generally are located indoors, safely out of sight. Conversely, candidates seemingly must hawk their wares outdoors, and it’s a messy process.
First, when the filing’s done, vast stocks of yard signs must be assembled and distributed sans proper instruction, meaning that inevitably, they begin sprouting in places not capable of being defined as “yards.” Such placements, as when clusters of yard signs appear at intersections and block the view of motorists, are plainly illegal although perpetually unenforced – itself a platform plank for future discussion.
Second, immediate squabbling commences over who is vandalizing the other’s yard signage, which conveniently detracts from the opportunity of discussing issues, as opposed to perpetuating agitated theological considerations of whether heaven awaits those who uproot signs that were erected illegally in the first place.
Third, the city is blanketed with fliers, pamphlets and screeds, jammed into door handles or dropped in the vicinity of porches. Roughly three-quarters of these fall of their own weight onto the ground or are summarily cast aside by disgruntled occupants, destined to take blow away and take their place alongside the rest of the Watchtowers, Big Gulp cups and other garbage blithely tossed away by resident derelicts in route to the neighborhood meth lab.
(If you persist in believing that the city’s street sweeping program snags more than a small percentage of this waste while shifting debris from the curb into the bike lane, I have a Ohio River Bridges Project tolling futures share to sell you.)
Of course, candidates for higher office (really?) have the advantage of corporate funds from far, far away, which can be used to directly snail-mail the offensive detritus into unsuspecting mailboxes to be quickly deposited into the nearest available receptacle. This method has the clear advantage of keeping the streets marginally cleaner. But what of our burgeoning landfills? Alas, that’s another story.
Personally, I am repelled by the prospect of contributing to littering and visual pollution problems that already exist, and further unwilling to be hypocritical in this fashion when there is little or no available evidence suggesting that to do so offers a measurable advantage in terms of the subsequent campaign.
I’ll be running for office, and against the accepted way of running for office. My theory is that if a voter likes what I have to say, he or she need only pass the information along to friends, because word of mouth advertising is the most efficient and least environmentally intrusive way. Moreover, responsible supporters will be able to visit my web site, which will be up soon, choose from a variety of .pdf files, and print their own position sheets and signs. Many more of these will be recycled than would otherwise be the case, and none will cause roadway accidents.
I’m considering other ways of presenting my name to the world, funds permitting: Buttons, t-shirts and the like. Items like these are far less likely to be abused, although the people wearing them might consider carrying pepper spray to ward off hooded troglodytes.
A Facebook friend offered this observation: “Always speak to truth, Rog (I know that you will); remember truth won’t get you elected, but it will set you free.”
While contesting the proposition that truth always precludes electoral success, my own truth is this: I detest the supposedly necessary yet trashy trappings of a local campaign, and I didn’t sign up to indulge in behavior I detest. We’ll do it differently and go our own way, and see what happens. That’s the way I’ve tried to approach life, and there’s no reason to change now.
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