YARD SIGNS.

For some reason, I had to make two road trips that weekend.
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The year was 2016, the season autumn, and I had to drive west toward Ohio and east toward New York in two days time. Four years later, I remember far less about the purpose of those excursions than the one thing I still cannot forget.
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All along our Great Lake Erie, it was what I saw posted along the roadside: Yard signs. Political yard signs. And, what disturbed me as deeply as the moment when the doctor opens his waiting room door and enters, carrying test results in his hand, was what I saw on those signs.
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Beyond a mere two or three, from New York across PA to Ohio and back again, they were nearly unanimously emblazoned with the two words which would change our world in ways none of us could have imagined:
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TRUMP.PENCE.
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For miles. That’s all I saw.
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Our city had been pretty determined to honor its long Democratic history by endorsing Hillary. I’d been a Bernie canvassing machine; his name appeared on MY yard sign, up until the election. But, what I saw stunned me with its foreboding. Clearly, everyone who lived on the lakefront – the monied – were a united flank and, that, all across the tri-state area. In fact, after the initial shock had waned, baffled national pundits and analysts would repeatedly point to Northwest PA as one of the pivotal forces which influenced the election results.
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I remember getting home on my final return trip, sitting down at the computer, and telling my friends on social media. “I think Trump is going to win.”
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Tonight, Michele Obama gave an unprecedented, heartfelt, bold, and pointed declaration to America. She withheld nothing. Our former First Lady told us to prepare to pack a brown bag and put on our old shoes, if that is what it would take to see to it that our vote would be placed, and counted.
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When she was finished, I thought about those yard signs. I realized that too many of us, myself included, had let the profuse presence of such signs affect our choices, in primaries past – so many offices, so many contenders, so much reading and listening required to make a truly informed decision. How many had always just depended on yard signs to teach name recognition, to register a subconscious vote already placed before due diligence had been paid.
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This November, forget about yard signs. If we see them, consider who put them there and ask whether those lawns were infiltrated by blind folly – or, worse.
Remember 2016. Everybody knows Joe Biden’s name. Keep your eyes on the sign in the sky, and make the only trip necessary. Just vote to save America’s soul.
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8/17/2020 Ruth Ann Scanzillo.

10 thoughts on “YARD SIGNS.

  1. A vote for sleepy dementia Joe is the way to loose Americas soul. He can’t even read from a teleprompter without stumbling. Look at all the cities and states that are run by Democrats. Wake up America!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Paul, if reading from a teleprompter is the standard against which you judge a leader of the free world, then you uphold only those who can effectively parrot what others have written for them. Speeches are rarely written by the politicians who present them, but by paid speechwriters; as such, the best among these (Peggy Noonan) are capable of creating character. Ronald Reagan would not have been half as popular, even among his loyalists, were it not for Peggy Noonan. But, more to my point, Ronald Reagan had early dementia while still in office, documents now reveal. Did America lose its soul, during his final year as President? By contrast, we have a man in office now who takes credit for things over which he has had no domain, makes daily claims which can be soundly refuted by established experts, and has allowed 170,000 Americans to die without once setting down a national strategy for halting the scourge. Clearly, you know nobody personally who has had a serious case of covid-19, but I know more than two. Obama increased employment for 6 years, during his administration. Joe Biden can easily lead, even if he is old and less vigorous than some, by both example and a determined commitment to be inclusive and magnanimous. We don’t need a narcissist who hates people unlike himself to take another minute away from the land of the free and the home of the brave or the voice of the people. His people are among the lowest common denominator our country has ever seen – white supremacists, racists, greedy acquisitionists, self-entitled aggrandizers, and their mindless wannabes. The fact that you count yourself among them speaks for itself.

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      1. Paul, this response to my paragraph above suggests that you either didn’t read it in its entirety or did not comprehend its meaning. If the latter is the case, you and I cannot have a fruitful discussion on any level. I’m sorry, but I fear the latter is true. You are singing a Johnny One Note song, and I am weary of its simplistic and shallow nature.

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      1. Sigh. “his people” is not a reference to his nationality or ethnicity; it is a reference to his constituents. In fact, the second half of that statement, the part following the — dash, qualifies the reference clearly. As for these, they are LED by the monied elite, but the largest percentage of them are undereducated and often ignorant, hence the term “lowest common denominator.” You consistently misapprehend the meaning of phrases most already grasp. I can’t help you, with that, I’m afraid I must say.

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  3. You are so out of touch and believe to much In the fake News you listen too! Wake up!

    On Mon, Aug 17, 2020 at 9:57 PM littlebarefeetblog wrote:

    > > > > > > > ruth ann scanzillo posted: ” > > For some reason, I had to make two road trips that weekend. > . > The year was 2016, the season autumn, and I had to drive west toward Ohio > and east toward New York in two days time. Four years later, I remember far > less about the purpose of those excursion” > > > >

    Like

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