2026, Family, Government, home, Uncategorized

Signs

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Husband and I were ND State employees for 37 years. As such, we were actively discouraged, almost prohibited, by our bosses from putting political signs in our yard.

This was the case no matter what party was in control of the State government. There apparently was great concern that State employees had to appear as neutral as possible and not be viewed as trying to influence elections.

I suppose in more populous areas inthe country people wouldn’t necessarily know if you were a State employee . In ND, where everyone knows everyone and where they work, nothing was anonymous.

This will be the first year in decades we will be able to put political signs in our yard. Husband is going to the county DFL meeting tomorrow night and I hope he brings some signs home. It is pretty exciting!

Do you put political signs in your yard? Ever run into problems with them or had them vandalized?

25 thoughts on “Signs”

  1. Way back when, we did a Ross Perot sign in our yard. Course we’re so far off the road no one sees it but us and whoever stops down here.

    Our neighbors own the property next to the highway, and he puts a DFL sign in the field occasionally. May not even be DFL, it might just say “World Peace” and someone will kick it over, or run over it with a snowmobile.
    Dumb.

    I know an electrician who hung a giant tRump flag on one of his trucks. I grudgingly admit He’s a good guy, and lets me borrow his scissor lift when needed.
    Last time I was gonna cover the lift with Kamala stickers, but decided I better not. He’d go ballistic and I need his help to much.

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    1. I have a neighbor who surprised me in 2024 with a sign for the candidate we are suffering through now. Like yours, mine is a good and helpful neighbor. We never discuss politics, I have no signs.

      It will be interesting to see what shows up this fall. There were several nasty surprises in 2024, we’ll see if things have changed.

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  2. There is a corner house on a main route near here with a wrought iron fence surrounding. They put up every political sign in the land – both sides of the aisle. It covers the whole fence… very colorful. I kind of like it.

    Last election I put out yard signs for a few Democrats, and immediately our neighbors put up one for an opposing one. We decided to not put them out this time.. I feel kinda bad, because we do know some of the people running for MN House and Senate.

    I’m not sure they change anyone’s mind, but I could be wrong – maybe someone undecided unconsciously tallies who has the most yard signs. I may change my mind before this is over…

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  3. I immediately wonder what constitutes a political sign. I suppose it might be argued that one’s position could be inferred by a “Black Lives Matter” or “We Love Our Immigrant Neighbors” sign but neither are inherently political. The possibility that they might be taken as such tells a lot about the regressive side of the political spectrum.

    We are fortunate to live in a predominantly progressive neighborhood. We can and sometimes do put up signs but it’s really preaching to the choir.

    The scattered conservative households can usually be identified by the number of flags they have on their house and planted in their yard. Because, if one flag is a statement, twelve are a barricade.

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  4. I know others here have worked as election judges. It’s interesting isn’t it, people can make a pretty general comment but you can often guess their party from the comment.
    One lady at our primary walked in wearing a shirt that said “Republicans work hard so you don’t have to“. Well, is that campaigning, Which isn’t allowed? It wasn’t a particular candidate, and she was in and out in a couple of minutes… we didn’t confront her about it.

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    1. I’d say the presence of a party name could sideline a shirt like that, but given that I could also make the case that the GOP spends big money telling you how to vote, so you needn’t trouble yourself with giving it a lot of thought, maybe the message is open to interpretation.

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  5. Rise and SHine, Baboons,

    I occasionally will have a political sign or bumper sticker, but not often. In 2004 husband and I took a trip South in the fall, touring the Mississippi River and its towns, stopping in Memphis. That year it was John Kerry vs. Bush. We had a Kerry bumper sticker on the car. We stopped for a day or two in Camp Girardeau, Missouri, where there is quite a lot to see with the big levees on the Mississippi and where you can see the locus of an old and rare earthquake that occurred in the mid-1800s.

    Our car and the camper were parked in some parking lot there. When we returned to it our bumper sticker was gone and the car had been keyed near where the sticker had been. After that I have refrained from most signage and bumper stickers.

    It is rare that the few signs I have had are vandalized, but they do get stolen. Most of our neighbors are quite progressive, but most of the neighborhood refrains. However, the Baptist minister down the block always posts his, so on Monday up went the Michele Tafoya/Lisa Demuth yard signs. Our neighbor to the South, who is generally uncooperative and irritable, is all involved in the state flag controversy. In July he hung the old state flag from his mail box, then raised a flag pole in the front yard where he has the American flag. However, he does not observe flag etiquette, leaving it out a night and in the rain. His behavior as a neighbor is usually problematic, so I am not surprised. The only felon flag for blocks, came down last year.

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    1. I think the old state flag is a sign of party affiliation in my neighborhood is used to show a more subtle sign in my neighborhood. We found out the neighborhood is less progressive than it at first seems. Makes me a bit uneasy.

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      1. Ach, that was awkward. Meant to say the old flag is a subtle way of showing a less progressive lean, without necessarily going all in on felons in the White House.

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    2. I’ve noticed that those who bray the loudest about patriotism have zero flag etiquette. As a Girl Scout and former den leader, this drives me crazy. On a recent road trip, we were passed by a semi truck that had a filthy bedraggled US flag hanging from the back of the trailer. Yet that truck driver no doubt considered themselves a model patriot.

      Back during the early days of the Iraq War, someone keyed the French flag sticker on our car.

      I’ve occasionally put up yard signs, back when disagreeing with the party in power wasn’t treated like a crime. These days, living in a country where the government spies on citizens planning peaceful protests, where one of the two major political parties believes violence is an acceptable way of getting the outcome they want, I’ll pass on the yard signs.

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  8. In my current county, Rock County, during the First World War people here who were considered too supportive of Germany had their barns painted yellow.

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    1. I strongly suspect that accounts for Anglicization of naming of children in my parents’ generation. Also why German got “lost” in my generation.

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  9. Since I’m an election judge, and I’m often in my own precinct where quite a few people know me, I’ve avoided yard signs. I did put up a sign fourteen years ago for “Vote No On Voter ID,” since that was not a purely partisan issue. It’s since become more controversial.

    I sometimes put out a sign that says Every Vote Counts. Again, nonpartisan.

    I have a bumper sticker on my car that says “We All Do Better When We All Do Better”. I’m sure that’s enough to tip off the neighbors, but it’s not as in-your-face as a yard sign with a candidate name on it.

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    1. I guess it was also around in 2020:
      https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=qGN2FT0l&id=57917FC5A77221BD7185ABF7A7C4278DE532A743&thid=OIP.qGN2FT0lHfIhcq4k2eXRBAHaHa&mediaurl=https%3a%2f%2fcdn.customsigns.com%2fmedia%2fcatalog%2fproduct%2fc%2fs%2fcs_ys-pol-anyfuncadult_lifestyle-4_800.jpg&cdnurl=https%3a%2f%2fth.bing.com%2fth%2fid%2fR.a86376153d251df22172ae24d9e5d104%3frik%3dQ6cy5Y0nxKf3qw%26pid%3dImgRaw%26r%3d0&exph=800&expw=800&q=Any+functioning+adult+sign&mode=overlay&FORM=IQFRBA&ck=C8EC1A34E946A3CF82D0C5ABF9B41668&selectedIndex=0&idpp=serp&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0

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  11. I have the best house in the neighborhood for signs you come down the street where 1 million cars go by in each direction and you have to hit a stop sign if you’re turning right and you have to turn left if you’re going the other direction and my front yard is right there. I contact the Dfl and tell them to bring on whatever signs they want to stick in the yard and I’d like to make them big. I’ve been OK in this neighborhood even though it’s primarily red but in my old neighborhood, my Obama signs used to get stomped and stolen, even after the third or fourth attempt at getting the sign to stay. I always got more signs, but it always surprised me that people have the gall to come and steal it

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  12. I live on a busy county-owned road, so I like to think that signage in my yard reaches more eyeballs, especially this year with Nicollet being closed down – even more traffic on my street. But I always wait till after the primaries. The only vandalism I’ve ever had was my Black Lives Matter signage during Covid. Somebody close by must have taken offense because it got destroyed three times. But I just blithely put put up a new sign every time and chalked up the money as contributing to a good cause. Whoever was quit after three.

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