ON THIS LAWN, (TWO) SIGNS OF THE TIMES

I just drove past a "For Sale" sign in front of a home, with another sign, should we say of our times (and mindset for that matter.) A call to the realtor confirmed it's been listed since this past summer and has some very unique conveniences even considering the affluent community in which it's located. Not that we are into real estate, but they are now selling (they hope) at a price of at least 20% less than listed and this is now being available in less than three months of a listing. It's an unfortunate but hardly atypical American story and so is the political dynamic at work within that property owners heart and mind. I'll explain; in many a poli-sci class (at least that's where I heard it) they tell a story of a farmer in 1936 who was being asked about the upcoming election, with FDR running for his second term. This man of the land was decisive, pointing out that in 1932, the time of the last election he was virtually busted and local services, power etc. in the Great Depression were barely functional. By 1936 of course the New Deal TVA et al had primed the pump and the greatest economic recovery this country has ever achieved, or had to achieve was well underway and the man from Tennessee recognized it, in a unique (for some) plain folk American way. He said in 1932 he'd voted Republican and things had gotten so much better that he had to vote Republican again. Back to the lawn of the house desperate to be sold, next to the realtors sign is a McCain/Palin poster. I hope the reason for that sign of the times isn't that in the last election they voted Democratic and property values plummeted since, so they won't do that again.