From "Black Lives Matter" to "F*** Biden" — why political yard signs/flags became permanent
The term "permanent campaign" was coined some three decades ago
MUNCIE —If there are no yard signs on your street, they're probably in your neighborhood, such as these in mine:
"We Support Teachers;" Black Lives Matter;" "A Hero Lives Here;" "Save-a-Life Wear a Mask;" "Slow Down: Kids and Pets at Play."
A house one subdivision away flies a "Trump Nation" flag next door to a residence advertising "We're IN This Together Muncie OUTreach LGBTQ Youth Group," across the street from a sign expressing support for backyard chickens. A "God Bless America" sign hangs on the front of a brick residence in the next neighborhood.
Elsewhere in Muncie, it's hard to miss these lawn signs: "Reform Redistricting Now;" "Proud Union Home;" and "No matter where you are from, we're glad you're our neighbor" (in English, Spanish and Arabic).
The household with the "Trump Nation" flag has been surpassed in a southwest side, 1960s housing-tract neighborhood — behind a church, where multiple flagpoles, each flying several flags, line the front yard of a residence.
Several of the flags read, "F*** Biden. And F*** you for voting for him." Others state: "God, Guns and Guts Made America Let's Keep All Three;" "Come and Take It (a rifle is pictured);" "Trump 2024 F*** Your Feelings;" "Trump 2024 Save America;"and "Don't Blame Me, Voted For Trump;" as well as one of Trump standing on a tank in front of the U.S. flag and fireworks.
The owner wasn't around but I met several neighbors, whose houses are all small, similar-looking, close together and well-kept. There was one yard sign on the block: "Trump 2020," in front of a house at which was parked a pickup truck with a Confederate flag as a license plate.
One neighbor called the flags down the street an eyesore. Another said, "At one time I thought it was pretty, but I thought they would take it down then." A third said he liked the Trump flags "but not that crap" on the other flags.
A windshield survey of other areas of Muncie found many of the previously mentioned signs along with "All Lives Matter;" "Just Be Kind;" "In This House We Believe Black Lives Matter, Women's Rights are Human Rights, No Human Is Illegal, Science Is Real, Love is Love, Kindness is Everything;" a clever, bright-yellow "Caution Kids At Play" sign resembling the triangular "Caution Slippery When Wet" standing floor signs; as well as signs announcing where students are matriculating, for instance "Indiana State Bound" and "Destination: Taylor University;" along with the pervasive house pressure-washing signs stuck illegally in public rights of way.
There were no "White Silence is Violence" or "Hate Has No Home Here" signs like I saw in Chicago recently, but watch for those here in the future.
So, what's behind all of these signs, which have increased in number compared to ten or 20 years ago, and are they legal (some definitely aren't)?
"Yes, there are a lot more political yard signs out now than in the past," Chad Kinsella, associate professor of political science at Ball State University, told me.
Also in the old days, the yard-sign phenomenon typically coincided with the campaign season, and the signs would come down after an election, said Kinsella, managing director of the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State.
"And the signs were almost all exclusively related to a candidate," Kinsella said in an email. "Now you have a lot more groups that are active and providing signs to supporters. This speaks to the fact that many of these groups are flush with cash, are well organized, and have a solid volunteer base, and some may even have some paid community organizers."
He went on: "People put them up for basically the same reasons they put up candidate campaign signs: to get the word out, show strength in numbers, and encourage other like-minded people to do the same. Working on campaigns, we wanted as many signs up (as possible) to make people aware, and it was a way of showing strong support in the community. These signs do basically the same.
"Also, as political polarization has heated up, people are feeling compelled to be politically active more often and more intensely, and several signs and flags are part of the byproduct of that movement."
Morris Fiorina, a political scientist from Stanford University, coined the idea of the “permanent campaign” nearly three decades ago, Kinsella said before adding, "and if there were any doubts about that then, it would seem we are clearly in that mode now. For those who are the most polarized on either side it would seem signs and flags are going to be a permanent part of the landscape, with a transition from candidates to causes being the only transition."
“Anecdotally, I'd say yes, it seems people are getting more socially active," Marta Moody, director of the Delaware-Muncie Metropolitan Plan Commission, said of yard signs. "Not that it hasn't been going on forever, but it seemed more isolated 20 years ago."
An example of such signs going back in time locally include NIMBY causes, e.g., opposition to factory farms, wind farms and “Our White River, Don’t Dam It.”
Lawn signs like "Black Lives Matter" on private property "I consider that protected speech and we don't regulate that," Moody told me. Although there are plenty of them around town, signs on city rights of way are prohibited by city ordinance, in part because they can pose a traffic hazard, but enforcement is another matter. Nor are signs legal on utility poles.
The ordinance does not require a permit for political yard signs, but the owner of the property on which they are located is responsible for their removal 10 days after an election.
Real estate signs are permitted, though the city a year or so ago was considering regulation of the widely encountered “For Rent” signs bordering the Ball State campus. However, the idea was dropped after apartment owners pushed back.
Moody noted that signs "bearing statements, words, or pictures of an obscene and indecent character, such as would be offensive to the general public," are prohibited. A "F*** Biden" flag could fall into that category, she said. The same flag has caused controversy in other cities, including Hammond, where a caravan of Trump supporters drove past the mayor's house after the mayor condemned the flag being flown by a resident.
The city of Muncie has received two complaints about ““F*** Biden” flags this year.
“We went out and talked to the owners,” city Building Commissioner Steve Selvey said. “We told them you’ve got kids in the neighborhood and you should think about what you’re exposing them to. Both individuals took them down after we appealed to their sense of decency.”
Legally, Selvey doubts the city could have forced removal of the flags, based on Supreme Court precedent.
