A Happy Yard Sign Story With a Lesson

I parked, walked to the front of one of my favorite local restaurants and there, in front of its sign, was a McCain Palin yard sign. What was I to do?

To make matters worse, the McCain/Palin yard sign was in front of a favorite Indian restaurant I'd invited a liberal friend from high school to have lunch at.

"Oh shit. Why'd they do that?" I thought to myself, thinking I wouldn't want to eat there anymore. And I love Indian food.

And I worried that my friend, who'd told me Indian food was among his favorites, might not want to eat there.

So I, steeled myself, went inside and asked the man behind the cash register, "What's with the McCain sign? Because I find it offensive."

He looked at the waiter who was also standing near the register, and said, "Did they put another one there?"

He explained, "This is, like, the tenth sign we've taken down. They keep putting them back up."

I raised my eyebrows and turned my head to one side, in curiosity.

"Yes. We have about ten signs down in the basement."

I smiled. I was feeling so much better. I've been coming to this restaurant, including its former location, for at least three years. I'd already started mourning my loss of it. This was good news.

"Can I take a picture of the signs? This is a fun story," I said.

We went down the basement where he kept the signs.

Afterward we had a good conversation on McCain and Obama.

The moral of the story:

- If you see McCain signs, don't assume the people behind the signs put them up.

- Go and ask, if it's an establishment you care about.

- Speak up about who you support and what you believe in. Some people will immediately agree. Some will be surprised to find that the thoughts they've been considering are supported by your words. Some will disagree but think about what you say and you may be the one who start them on the path to waking up. And some will tell you to go fuck yourself.

They're all fun.

Afterward, I stopped by the county Obama headquarters, a few blocks away. It was packed. There must have been 30 or 40 people working away, preparing packets for out-of-staters coming in to canvas over the weekend, phone-bankers, etc. I told my story about the signs. One of my friends there explained, "The landlord's a Republican."

Not a surprise.

The landlords are going to see some changes. In this town, Doylestown PA, they already have, Last year, the town elected it's first democratic majority council.

A new day is coming.

Crossposted from OpEdNews.com

Comments

[jhNY]

The biggest change the landlords are going to see is less rent paid on time if at all.

[dvdmon]

I'm a big Obama supporter, but this story bugged me - not the fact that they were putting these signs up without permission, that's of course wrong. My qualm is with the author's attitude that somehow it was offensive to see someone (ostensibly) exercising their free speech rights. You might not agree with their political leanings, but is that a reason to a) be offended, and b) boycotting a small business? Talk about divisive politics, jeez! I know it's the end of the election cycle and there's lots of dirty politicking, but are we in 3rd grade? Let's rise above it people. I think having a dialog is a great idea, it's just the initial thoughts that "I wouldn't want to eat there anymore" which made me sad...