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Post by fauxmaha on Oct 21, 2020 10:11:29 GMT -5
A funny story. Funnier because it's all true.
Saturday morning, I drove past what may very well be the most poorly maintained house in the state. Everything about this place showed neglect. It should have been painted 15 years ago. As it stands, bare wood is showing everywhere. Gutters hanging from the roof. The cliche of shutters hanging askew by one nail? Yep. The lawn wasn't a lawn in any sense. Just a bunch of tall weeds that were standing dead since the first frost. Picket fence around the front with about 80% of the pickets missing, and what pickets were left were hanging crooked with peeling paint. The gate on the fence was broken. Trash cans overflowing on the porch.
On and on.
The only thing new, the only thing that showed any sign of receiving attention in the last 20 years, was the array of political yard signs. A good eight or ten of them, standing proud amidst the decay.
That part struck me as really sad. What I saw was a life in a state of total chaos, and someone so ideologically possessed he thought redemption would be found if only his preferred candidates won. It occurs to me that if he took whatever energy went in to securing those political signs, and re-directed it toward getting (literally) his own house in order, he might see some glimmer of hope and begin to emerge from that chaos.
That's not the funny part. The funny part goes like this: I told that story, separately, to two of my daughters. The first is so Trumpy she makes Peter look like Hanners. The second is to anti-Trump she makes Hanners look like Peter.
Pro-Trump daughter's immediate response: "I bet they were all Biden signs! That's the way those people are!"
Anti-Trump daughter's immediate response: "I bet they were all Trump signs! That's the way those people are!"
And like I said, that struck me as pretty funny. But it also made me sad.
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Post by coachdoc on Oct 21, 2020 10:22:05 GMT -5
I have a reflex hammer that can provide similar predictable results.  |
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Post by coachdoc on Oct 21, 2020 10:23:05 GMT -5
So which were they? One sided or random?
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Post by fauxmaha on Oct 21, 2020 10:26:59 GMT -5
So which were they? One sided or random? You'll never know.  |
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Post by majorminor on Oct 21, 2020 10:27:39 GMT -5
I tend to buck the usual trend in that as I get older I'm becoming LESS interested in politics. Life's too short and most of us are getting played for fools. And it's hard to dive in too deep with those passionate and vocal about politics without becoming surrounded by morons on both sides. I figured out awhile ago that I (and everyone) are simply voting for things and policies we'd like to see happen but never will. The taxes keep going up. The deficits keep growing. The wars keep happening. The rules and regulation keep increasing.
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Post by epaul on Oct 21, 2020 10:28:39 GMT -5
Did, perhaps, one party pay the guy to display the campaign signs of the other party?
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Post by theevan on Oct 21, 2020 10:32:36 GMT -5
I tend to buck the usual trend in that as I get older I'm becoming LESS interested in politics. Life's too short and most of us are getting played for fools. And it's hard to dive in too deep with those passionate and vocal about politics without becoming surrounded by morons on both sides. I figured out awhile ago that I (and everyone) are simply voting for things and policies we'd like to see happen but never will. The taxes keep going up. The deficits keep growing. The wars keep happening. The rules and regulation keep increasing. You and me both, brother. This election can't be over soon enough. Am I deluded by hoping things will calm down in here after all is said and done? |
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Post by dradtke on Oct 21, 2020 11:50:21 GMT -5
Am I deluded by hoping things will calm down in here after all is said and done? Probably after the first week of nose-rubbing. |
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,869 
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Post by Dub on Oct 21, 2020 12:06:47 GMT -5
So which were they? One sided or random? You'll never know. Excellent! As I read your post I found myself thinking that the state of the property was not a reliable indication of party preference. I’ve seen both shanties and mansions displaying yard signs and their status seemed to have no bearing on their party choice. As for me, no yard signs, no bumper stickers, no outward sign of preference. I’ve always been that way. |
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Post by John B on Oct 21, 2020 12:07:43 GMT -5
Around here, that property would not be owner-occupied, and maybe not occupied at all. The owner would probably be a Republican (we are the hometown of VP Pence, after all), so the signs would be, too.
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Post by epaul on Oct 21, 2020 12:14:30 GMT -5
There is a reason Todd's jeep is festooned with Trump flags and stickers. The Biden campaign is paying him ninety-five cents a mile to drive around Iowa. This weekend he will be in Wisconsin.
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Post by sidheguitarmichael on Oct 21, 2020 12:17:39 GMT -5
fauxmaha Jeff I wish I had all day to sit here and “unlike” your anecdote, just so I could “like” it all over again. I tend to buck the usual trend in that as I get older I'm becoming LESS interested in politics. Life's too short and most of us are getting played for fools. And it's hard to dive in too deep with those passionate and vocal about politics without becoming surrounded by morons on both sides. I figured out awhile ago that I (and everyone) are simply voting for things and policies we'd like to see happen but never will. The taxes keep going up. The deficits keep growing. The wars keep happening. The rules and regulation keep increasing. Looks like I will need a mailing addy to send you your complimentary “St Doug” pin. I mean, if there actually was such a thing. Left; right... tout le monde is reading and posting from the right wing of the Amygdala. #notalickofdifference.
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Post by majorminor on Oct 21, 2020 12:20:02 GMT -5
fauxmaha Jeff I wish I had all day to sit here and “unlike” your anecdote, just so I could “like” it all over again. I tend to buck the usual trend in that as I get older I'm becoming LESS interested in politics. Life's too short and most of us are getting played for fools. And it's hard to dive in too deep with those passionate and vocal about politics without becoming surrounded by morons on both sides. I figured out awhile ago that I (and everyone) are simply voting for things and policies we'd like to see happen but never will. The taxes keep going up. The deficits keep growing. The wars keep happening. The rules and regulation keep increasing. Looks like I will need a mailing addy to send you your complimentary “St Doug” pin. I mean, if there actually was such a thing. Left; right... tout le monde is reading and posting from the right wing of the Amygdala. #notalickofdifference. Well, I don't actually want to hang anybody. Yet. |
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Post by fauxmaha on Oct 21, 2020 12:31:56 GMT -5
You'll never know. Excellent! It's a Rorschach Test. |
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Post by Russell Letson on Oct 21, 2020 12:47:55 GMT -5
Politics is what you don't care much about until your neighborhood gets rezoned for high-density apartment buildings or the street a block over is widened to four lanes.
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Post by aquaduct on Oct 21, 2020 13:01:45 GMT -5
We've got a few of those places around here. 150 year old bohemian hippy houses owned by artists or lawyers or government wonks. One of the signs is probably a hand painted screed extolling the obvious evils of people like me.
The working class would never have that. Their wives would kill them.
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