Editor,

In her recent letter to the editor, Barbara Dunn bemoans the recent removal or destruction of lawn signs on South Whidbey. Anyone concerned about civility and respect will wholeheartedly agree with her. It’s the essence of free speech to publicly profess one’s political affiliations.

Could we persuade the perpetrators to adhere to the Golden Rule of ”do unto others as you wish them to do unto you?”

Doubtful.

There is, however, the issue of content to discuss. In general, until very recently, lawn signs were used simply to identify the homeowner’s preferred political candidates by name. Now, it seems the signs have been raised to the symbolic level of tablets from Mount Sinai, emblazoned with fervent beliefs and moral imperatives embraced by the inhabitants of the particular houses.

The best example of that mode of public declaration begins with the words: “In this house we believe,” followed by a litany of politically correct “feel good” positions designed to elevate and dissociate the owners from their implicitly red-neck, ignoramus neighbors.

We, the deplorable peons driving by your house, get it. You are better people. Oh my, what rectitude. What courage. Slow clap. We stand in awe of your compassion, enlightenment and guilt.

Nice try. Check back with Mayors Durkan and Wheeler and the Black owners of burnt-out businesses to confirm that groveling and appeasement are futile.

While we’re waiting, we shall drag onto our lawn a ragged plywood sign that reads, “In this house we believe … that people who use lawn signs to signal their moral superiority over their neighbors will not be spared by the mob.”

V.F. Gelfand

Greenbank