The Sign Wars

How much time and effort goes into blanketing our roadways every year with hundreds upon hundreds of political signs? And, perhaps more telling, how much time and effort goes into opposing political organizations tearing one another signs down?

Welcome to the nitty-gritty silliness of politics. The Sign Wars are likely not going anywhere, no matter how many residents complain each year about the untidy assemblage of signs that continue to litter neighborhoods long after elections have been won or lost.

At the end of the day, though, does anybody actually vote for a candidate because that person's signs are more heavily splattered along jughandles than another candidate's?

I know that some citizens (like my dear mother) walk into voting booths and decide that one candidate's name looks "friendlier" than another's, but do the Sign Wars legitimately have any affect on that decision? I tend to think not.

The Sign Wars are, at heart, a turf war. This part of town is mine, that part of town is yours, etc. It's also a show of force, i.e. I have the manpower and the money to put up five times more signs than you and tear down your signs at a faster rate than you can tear down mine.

At the end of the day, the Sign Wars are an effort in futility that allows local parties to rouse the troops and unify their organization for a common effort.