Yard signs blazon one’s political affiliation to the entire neighborhood. It’s like standing in the town square and shouting at passers-by. My side is better than yours we shout: you are deficient and I am better than you . Each of us feels better because we have our group and 'they' have theirs.
This is not a new phenomenon. Creation stories from most faiths include this division, this inability to understand and accept the other. It’s Cain v Abel in many different manifestations. It’s human nature. Somehow we bumble along through the ages. Democracy is a fairly new invention built on hope; but it often fails to account for our need — each of us — for an identity that encircles us and affirms us: for a tribe.
Democracy is the Mad Hatter’s Tea party where delusions of importance and superiority drive us to keep changing seats at the table.
My yard sign collection decorates the walls of my workshop. It goes back to Obama’s first campaign, but in my memory it goes back to Kennedy v Nixon. It’s a room dedicated to more practical purposes, where spare lightbulbs and half-used paint cans sit next to my father’s toolbox, his mallet, and his carpenter’s square. There’s a symbolism to that: my working-class origins arise from a time when the man of the family could by dint of hard work with his hands, care for his family, could keep them safe from threats: from world wars, from outsiders, from change. Those origins are now flanked by my own tribal signifiers; by beliefs I have held with a certain amount of smugness. Beliefs I can hold because my father and his generation made all manner of sacrifices to support my choices, my certainties about how the world should be.
The room is a reminder of how slowly change permeates our lives.
The greatest generation is nearly gone. The values by which they lived seem less urgent here in the comfortable world they built for us. My generation lives with a standard of living not available to them – or to most of the world today. Americans perhaps have been wearing blinders, been comfortable and protective of that comfort. About thirty-seven [https://demofinland.org]percent of the world population lives under authoritarian governments. With this election, maybe we have joined that uncomfortable through the looking glass tea party.
It took Alice a while, in that mirror world, to find her way. Around that tea-table sat several completely self-absorbed characters, each carrying on conversations while failing to hear or understand the others’ words. Readers enjoy the gamesmanship and the nonsense, but within the framework of the story, each character was isolated and willing to harm each other character.
Our great stories teach us about ourselves. Cain v Able… Alice in Wonderland … democracy vs authoritarianism. As we pull our yard sign stakes, and add the signs to our collection, as we move into another uncertain phase of life, I’m taking a closer look at the rest of the room where I thumbtack signs to the wall. My father’s lifework is memorialized there too. It was a life like most of his generation: focus on family and on neighbors. Lives of integrity and generosity. Like that thirty-seven percent of world population living under repressive governments, those of us living in 2024 United States need to fill the next four years with family, neighbors, and generosity. But we also need to revisit our concept of ‘neighbor’ – to expand it to include our towns, our schools, our nation’s children; and we need to continue the work of holding our nation’s leaders to the promises that Greatest Generation made: the promise of democracy.
The Mad Hatter’s Tea party ends with this scene: `Now, I’ll manage better this time,’ [Alice] said to herself, and began by taking the little golden key, and unlocking the door that led into the garden.'
Sharon Kourous is a member of Stronger Together Huddle, a group engaged in supporting and promoting the common good. She is a retired teacher and resides in Monroe. She can be reached at mcneil102@icloud.com.
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