Writer says stealing yard sign steals people’s freedom of expression in election

Vox Pop

My son and his family live in south Minneapolis, five blocks from where George Floyd tragically died. During the week this happened I was visiting them, and had the experience of smelling the smoke from the riots, and later driving past the destruction that resulted from them. My time there also included interesting conversations with the locals about what was happening to their neighborhoods. Needless to say, it seemed worlds apart when I returned to the cozy confines of my community where I could walk our dog on quiet streets and past peaceful cornfields.

Thus, it would seem like my wife and I would have but a minor problem when we discovered this past weekend that someone had stolen our Trump and Tom Tiffany signs from our yard, (and all the Trump signs on our street as well). Law enforcement informed me that this had been a problem lately in the area.

To those parties who did this, let me express my gratitude that you exercised the restraint you did by not burning down our house. You might say, “Why, of course! We would never do that!” and I believe you, but the attitudes displayed by your actions are basically the same as those currently being acted out across our country, in that you ignore the rule of law, in this case by your trespassing and stealing our property.

But, there is really a bigger issue being played out here: You not only stole our signs, but, more importantly, you stole a part of our freedom to express our beliefs. The proper approach, as an American, would be to have an open and engaging conversation about where you stand on the issues. Turn and face your fellow citizens to have this conversation in such a way that helps everyone; please do not just steal a yard sign, turn tail, and run.

My wife and I do not need to know who stole our signs; we are not even mad, just a little sad that people would do this. No one is perfect; we all make mistakes, especially myself (1 Timothy 1:15-17), but, ironically, your wrong actions are one of the reasons why we and so many others support President Trump. We want to give our backing to an administration that includes the preserving of those freedoms our country has been so richly blessed with, as well as with upholding the rule of law! Unfortunately, the radical left doesn’t see it that way, which was bore out in the last four years in their war to ‘regain power at any cost’!

Many have said that we need to have more communication in the hope of finding common ground, and eventually, solutions for the problems we face today. Such an approach would lead to us doing our small part in trying to make and keep our great country strong! May we all strive to be better at doing this!

Let us also be praying for God’s wisdom in using His gifts to us as we do our best to live productively.

— Larry Lecheler, Abbotsford