Well, I did my civic duty on Friday. No, I had already turned in my ballot. I spent an afternoon sign waving for a local candidate.
It's interesting - more interesting than I imagined. You have to mentally prepare yourself for the abuse you're gonna receive. I'm disappointed in the leftward (downward) shift of my little town. More toilet-drinkers every day it seems.
The duty is rather simple - you pick the busiest intersection in the area and hold up a sign supporting your candidate. As each light change takes place you turn to meet the new traffic and wave. Easy-peasy.
You won't get a reaction from 90-plus percent of the travelers. They're single mindedly focused elsewhere. Most are a lot like zombies - almost totally oblivious to everything around them. They don't react no matter how energetic you get.
Of the remaining 10% most will offer a negative response. It's a sign of the times I suppose. And therein lies the "fun" of sign waving for conservatives. Dealing with the nut-burgers, the freaks, and the thugs.
You get lots of middle fingers, along with a honk to make sure you don't miss the insult. Then there are the shouters and their more aggressive comrades, the screamers. They wait until the light changes and then as they take off, hurl an insult at you. Oh, how brave!
But the best are the pedestrians. They at least have the grit to confront you eye to eye. They're still full of the devil and predictably aggressive (never turn your back!) but they also offer the best interactions.
I had one woman come up and intently study my sign. She peered at it closely for a minute or so until she determined that there was noting on the sign that indicated party affiliation. So she asked, "Democrat?" "No", I replied, "Joe is a Republican". "Oh, that's no good. I don't vote for Republicans." "That's a shame, you're missing out" I replied. "F Republicans!" she said and walked off. Nice.
A carload of girls drove by and shouted, "Lesbians don't trust Joe!"
There are a thousand things that I could say in response but most would only serve to hurt his campaign so I just smile and say, "Thank you!" instead.
The creepiest was a white guy who came up, read the sign, peered at me and said, "Isn't Joe a Jew?"
That caught me by surprise and I said, "What?!"
"Isn't Joe a Jew?"
"What do ya spose?" I offered.
This time it was his turn..."What?!!"
"What do ya spose?"
"What do you mean? What are you saying?"
"So what if he is? You say that like it's a bad thing".
The light changed and as he walked off he muttered something like "it is" - or something. He wasn't real aggressive or insistent - just creepy.
The hinkiest moment was when when a carload of the bruthas pulled up next to me at the light. They were listening to (c)rap and staring at me through their shades. The guy nearest me was looking me in the eye while singing along with the boombox, "Die muthfu*ker, die" - over and over. Did I mention that I never go anywhere unarmed?
We had a windy and rainy afternoon to contend with so keeping control of a 4' x 6' sign took its toll on me and I was glad when we finally called it a day.
Frankly I'll be glad when this is all over with - but I'm happy to have been able to help.