blog.thebigreason

Polytics

The wife frowns on political lawn signs. I can understand why one wouldn’t want to start any unnecessary controversy with neighbors, especially when the red and blue lines are so rigidly drawn in our duopolistic country, but I have to respectively disagree. Campaign buttons, posters, etc. are a classic part of American tradition, and one of the most direct uses of our freedom of speech.

I like seeing the lawn signs at voting time. I think those who aren’t afraid to voice their support for a particular candidate or issue, do the rest of us a favor. They open things up for discussion. It’s fair game to ask them why they felt compelled to put a sign in their yard, or a sticker on their car. It gets people talking. It gets the points of view out on the table. Politics effect us all, and if we’re too afraid to talk about them with each other, we miss out on the opportunity to really understand what’s at stake.

Marriage is all about compromises, so as a compromise to my wife, I made a lawn sign for my blog. For you Yolo County Rexroad supporters who may be so inclined, feel free to download this lawn sign and put it on your own site. I made two flavors:

1. rexroad-lawn-sign.png (opacity not supported in IE 6)
2. rexroad-lawn-sign.jpg (with a pretty sky background)

As for the subject of Matt Rexroad, I’m voting for him again for the following reasons:

• His realistic solutions for the preservation of Conaway Ranch without resorting to eminent domain.
• His success in getting the urban limit line on the ballot, despite Woodland City Council not voting to do so.
• His track record of encouraging downtown redevelopment over sprawl. Do you like the old K-Mart shopping center now? Seiferman would have had it become a human-services office.
• He pays actual attention to what the people of Woodland care about. He eats at the restaurants, he takes his kids to the parks, and he’s even been to a few Bottom Dwellers shows. I can’t say that I’ve bumped into my own parents as often as I see Matt around town.
• I actually agree with him over 90% of the time (I’m not into the Costco).

He was a kickass mayor, and will give Woodland a real voice on the county seat. Feel free to pressure me for more information or call me out if you think you know better.