Yes, there’s the aura of celebrity, and some might say good looks and a sort of charm. Others maybe a formidable intellect or quiet strength. Almost all agree he’s the epitome of grace under pressure. Yup, all kinds of reasons to vote for Barack Obama, but Donald Trump? Give me a break. My brother put it best: “You would have to be stupid.” And that was in 2015 when he was just a pompous asshole.
Now he’s a Mass-murdering, Bounty-Ignoring, Ally-Blackmailing, Soldier-Insulting, PussyGrabbing, PutinFawning, DraftDodging, Pageant-Peeping, Money-Laundering, Chronically-Lying, Racist, Criminal. Pervert, Traitor of a Pompous Asshole, and apart from sheer visceral hatred for America and everything good in this world, I can’t think of why anyone would want to vote for the guy.
So let’s ask!
When I first met Suevisa about a year ago she was holding weekly rush hour vigils using cloth banners because that’s how it’s always been done. I’ve explained the advantages of posting cardboard over holding cloth to a lot of vigilistas, but very, very few ever take me up on it. There’s a powerful social component to our activism: We like to “get together” and do things. We like to “participate.”
There’s only so many hours in a day though, and participation often ends up being all we can reasonably expect from our endeavors.
But then there are some of us who actually think we can change the world — not that we think it’s likely, just that it’s possible. So when you’re fighting those kinds of odds you want every advantage you can get. Suevisa did the math, got a projector and switched to cardboard. Now instead of one sign on one freeway 2 hours a week, she’s kept between 6 and 10 or more on 5 or 6 freeways 24/7. She could have a hundred up if she wanted - even a thousand — because those are the rules as passed down by the men who set this whole thing up.
The voice of the individual was very important to the people who gave us this country, and that we’ve let that voice be drowned out by the media is a big part of why we’re so close to losing it.
This was from a new guy here at Kos and I hope he notices the Kosmail envelope because he seemed to have gotten the gist of it right away. He said he didn’t mind climbing hills knowing it’s be awhile before a Republican would be willing to do the same. I think most of you figure there’s not much point in this since someone will just take your sign down, but you’re wrong: you have no idea how many tens of thousands of people can drive past a sign wanting to take it down but ultimately succumbing to the siren song of what should be made our National Motto: “Someone else will take care of it.”
And in Yuma, in the summer, if you post on a hill at daybreak, that sign’s gonna be there until sundown.
Once you done it a couple of times, found some good spots and established a route, then it’s just a matter of hitting it every week or two with some new signs. Depending on how large the city and how tight the route, two hours or so every week or two would probably be enough to hit three or four freeways and maintain a fairly constant presence. Given the ghettoization of social media, your signs might well be the only progressive voice thousands, or even tens of thousands of commuters are ever exposed to.
The signs above and below were painted during the rains and then hung on a sunny day in Portland by @PDX_Resists & a friend. They pick the time and the place, if something looks sketchy they just keep going. No gas, no cops, no batons, no paintballs, proud boys or redneck battle cruisers.