Letter to the editor: Stealing a yard sign is a low blow

Editor:

I have lived in this quiet neighborhood of Mountlake Terrace for a little over 10 years. Before that I have lived in Seattle; New York City; Section, Alabama and Newport, Kentucky. Overall it has been a very pleasant place to live. My immediate neighbors are lovely people. Neighbors from farther away that I have met as they are passing by during my yard work have added a large measure of joy to my days.

Sure there have been issues – but nothing that ever really angered me before today. A bicycle I forgot and left in the driveway overnight disappeared. Okay not happy about it but at least there was some value and it could be used. Hey I even like to imagine some kid surprised that their parent could actually afford to get them a bike. There was no anger in that moment of discovery.

Some folks seem to think the flowers I toil to plant in the front yard would look better in their house. Okay – fine. They will grow back. And I can plant more – or move them to the back yard if I am truly concerned. (I was looking forward to those sunflower seeds I will admit.)

But today – today I am angry. The Biden/Harris yard sign in our front yard is gone. Now you are attacking my right to free expression. That I will not concede easily. If you are so afraid of the effect a simple yard sign might have on the election how much confidence do you have in your candidate? I have seen lots of political signs around the city in my travels – many are not people for whom I would ever vote.

On the other hand I would never deny anyone the right to express their point of view or to vote for the candidate of their choice. All of those signs I passed are still in place.

I have no idea how we got to this point. I have lived for close to 7 decades and seen lots of ugly acts committed by my fellow citizens. Even some by our government but I never doubted that the ship of state would right itself and onward we would go.

I hope our ship of state is in the process of righting itself.

Cindy Russell
Mountlake Terrace

  1. Cindy,

    Please, don’t wait for “the ship to right itself”

    We ALL need the help of ALL our citizens to help “run the ship”

    2 simple suggestions:

    • Help move the state to Ranked Choice Voting – look it up, there are numerous sites and videos
    • Become involved with a local organization to move toward the changes you want
    ∘ in today’s MLT News, Terrace posted the link about a screening co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and Braver Angels Alliance
    ∘ Fix Democracy First, https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/, a local organization with weekly virtual “happy hours” – this evening, a Protect the Results & Count Every Vote Virtual Rally, https://www.fixdemocracyfirst.org/events/protect-the-results-count-every-vote-virtual-rally-wa-state

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