Looking for a Sign

• Sign, sign, Everywhere a sign, Blocking out the scenery, 
• Breakin’ my mind, Do this, Don’t do that,
• Can’t you read the sign?  
• – Signs  The Five Man Electrical Band, 1971 (re-recorded by Tesla, 2007)

Polarization

For the past decade, the polarization of the United States was best defined by a simple drive.  In the city, there are few political signs, except in the carefully defined sixty days before the elections (a city ordinance that was ultimately declared unconstitutional, but still honored).  But get past the outer-belt, where concrete buildings turn into suburban homes, and then alternating fields of corn and soybeans; and, signs change.  For almost a decade, the informal “definition” of the countryside wasn’t a John Deere tractor or a Rural King store.  It was thousands of “Trump” signs.

Not just signs either.  There were Trump flags, Trump billboards (Trump-Pence until after January 6^th), Trump mannikins (get your picture taken with “him”); and for the stouter supporters, first the “Jail Hillary”, then “F**K Biden” flags in Trump colors. (One particular large F-Biden flag was displayed across the street from a neighboring middle school.  I wonder how the social studies teachers handled that).  I live in a “red” portion of Ohio, ten miles outside of the outer-belt, so Trump stuff wasn’t a surprise to me.  But to my “city-mouse friends”, out for a drive; there was often shock and fear.  They were in TRUMP COUNTRY, and they were unnerved by it.

Fractured Arc

In 2016, before the great catastrophe of the November election, it was easy to shrug off Trump.  The Nation seemed on a pre-destined course, Dr. King’s “arc of the moral universe”.  Barack Obama was elected and re-elected by large majorities, the next logical step was Hillary.  The path of the American experiment was clear.  It was easy to see Trump-ism as only a small portion of our Nation quailing from the future; seeking to return to a fictional past.

But if you took a drive, you’d know differently.  The signs were everywhere, establishing an unwritten “code” of uniformity.  Fealty to Trump became a “condition” of living out here.   Only the courageous few had Hillary or Biden signs.  And while in my neighborhood those political aberrations were somewhat tolerated, in conversation we were “those people” who thought different.  I appreciated my neighbors who could get beyond “signs”, but I also realize there are neighbors who haven’t had much to say since 2016.

In 2016 Trump-ism drove voters to the polls.  In our narrowly divided country, voter “turnout” is king, and in 2016 the “country-mouse vote” showed up for him.  The city-mouse vote did not show up for her, so Hillary lost by the slimmest of margins.

We Won, We Won

A lot of “signs” didn’t come down after 2016.  Trump country, the “Red-MAGA Hat club”, tattered Trump-Pence signs remained up for four years, a mark of victory against “the arc of the universe”.  In 2020 the signs were rejuvenated, increased in size, updated (some in marker) to the current election.  And the MAGA vote showed up again, even stronger than it did in 2016.  

It’s no wonder that Donald Trump is confused about who won the 2020 election.  He did better than 2016, he got more votes than anyone, (yes, anyone) before him, except one.  The “country-mouse” vote came to the polls (because Covid wasn’t a thing for them – right?) in record numbers.  The difference was, the city-mouse vote showed up in even greater records, voting early, and by mail, and then overwhelmingly on election day despite the risk of Covid.  Joe Biden got the most votes ever in a Presidential election, and won just a narrowly as Trump did in 2016.

Last Summer Drive

And the signs still stayed up, for a while.  But wind and rain and snow took its toll on the Trump/Pence signs, even the ones with Pence’s name cut off.   And while the stalwarts still had their flags, it seemed to dwindle.  A drive in the country might yield only a few “Trump” sightings, not the back-to-back-to-back of 2020.

Now we are in 2024, less than fifty days before the election.  I took a drive yesterday down to Lancaster, Ohio to see one of my favorite cross country meets.  Like many of those late September competitions, it was mid-summer hot with high pushing ninety.  So I took my Jeep, top up but all of the windows out.  (It’s almost time to go “winter” mode on it).  A kind of last “summer” drive in the country.

Give me a Sign

And what surprised me is what I didn’t see.  Sure, there were a few “Trump/Vance” signs, but not many (maybe seven or eight).  And there were actually some homes along the highway that dared a Harris/Walz sign (a couple).  So I’ve been trying to decide what that means.

Does it mean that the “country-mouse” vote is less Trumpy?  I don’t believe it; at least here in Pataskala, the “battle lines” are still clearly drawn.  But does it mean that the “country” isn’t as motivated as they were in 2016 and 2020; aren’t as dedicated to MAGA as they were before?  And will that dedication result in a lesser turnout, coupled with a greater Harris turnout in the “city-mouse” areas?

Or is there some vast MAGA conspiracy to keep the signs down.  Is our polarization so set in stone that it no longer requires a “sign” to display loyalty, and the MAGA turnout will be just as great as before?  I don’t have a good answer.

I’ll keep looking for a sign.