Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Lesson Four AND Five

Okay guys,


I'm a little behind here. The campaign is heating up, and early voting began yesterday. Also, I waited until pretty close to the last minute to finish judging for a writing contest I had agreed to judge for. I like to give each entry a good deal of time, and several read-throughs, so that I can give the best feedback and most help to each entrant as I can, so it took up most of the last few days of last week to do justice to each entry.



Not that I'm saying you guys aren't important. You SO are. But, let’s just say, there wasn't a fixed deadline for posting, and so it got shuffled back. Sorry. :-)



So, I've decided to skim over lesson four. After all, it's pretty self explanatory. A four year old, a three year old, and a two year old. Trying to keep that lot still, presentable, and from destroying the studio? Pretty much impossible. We spent about ten minutes trying, they got a five second shot of peaceful lull somewhere in the ten minutes, and I bundled the kids off. Everyone--the kids included, was happy to have that over and done with.



So, on to Lesson Five.



Wendy foreshadowed it a bit. Not everyone is nice, especially in small town politics. Some people are darn un-nice. (Yes, I'm pretty sure that isn't a word, but it's my blog and I like the un-word, so it stays.)



So, we started to get hate mail. But with a twist.



They sent it to all our neighbors.



Saying awful, evil, obviously untrue things about DH.



We have great neighbors. The first to bring over an envelope was our French neighbor from across the street. I was home alone, and he asked to see DH. He said he'd gotten some trash mail, and thought DH needed to see it, but it was so awful, he didn't show it to me.



Yep. It was bad enough that French neighbor wanted to protect me from it.



They kept coming. A string of neighbors, angry and disgusted for us, and that someone was sending this filth to them. An unintended effect is that as a whole, the neighbors (even the generally non-voting neighbors) have all said they're voting, and are going to tell everyone they know to vote for DH. Yep. The letters made them that mad.



We called the police.



Since DH is running for office, and on a strong law enforcement platform, they got right on it. Of course, we still have no idea who is sending the letters out. They are creative though, I'll give them that.



We haven't mentioned anything about it to anyone. I guess the lack of attention upset them, because they've gotten more creative with the letters by the day.



Then the creepy calls started this weekend.



Yep folks, we are now getting death threats. Over a local election! Seriously.



So, lesson five? If you're going to run public office, make sure you are prepared. Because not everyone is nice when politics are involved. Even local politics. Maybe especially local politics.

6 comments:

  1. Especially local politics. And who ever said there was anything nice about politics anywhere? That's news to me. Sorry you've had to endure so much and after it all, I hope he wins! Good luck!

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  2. Thanks! At this point, I don't know which would be better--winning, or losing. Lol!
    Nah--DH hates to lose. So I guess we'll have to shoot for winning.
    But in the meantime, I'm carrying my pepperspray everywhere, just in case. :)

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  3. Holy cow, this is terrible. The one thing I can say is....negative publicity can work in your husband's favor. My example: I don't usually vote in local elections. School tax votes: Yes. President: Yes. All others: Not usually. But one year a woman who owned a local convient mart/gas station was running for town council. She was always nice and gave a donation to support my son's baseball team. As the election grew closer her opponent started sending out oversized postcards bashing her. What a mistake. People, myself included, turned out in mass to support her. She won in a landslide. I hope your husband does, too!

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  4. You have to take this seriously, Merissa. Check whatever national psychiatric association you want, the statistics are the same : one in 25 people you meet will be a sociopath {not like Dexter} Most are intelligent to know that they can't get away with murder.

    But get in their way, and they will all that intelligence, minus any moral moorings, to punish you.

    Sadly, it sounds like you've gotten on the radar of one of those. Take precautions. Don't say, "Oh, he/she wouldn't go so far as to do {fill in the blank.}

    As the Prussian military strategist, Carl von Clausewitz wrote : "If you entrench yourself behind strong fortifications, you compel the enemy to seek a solution elsewhere. You cannot predict what an enemy will do, only what he is capable of doing. Once you have done that, take appropriate defensive measures."

    Sounds like I'm talking about war. Sadly, that is what politics often comes down to. And that, too, is another one of Clausewitz's beliefs.

    But I, for one, when I see a dirty campaign, I immediately vote for the other person. Wendy saw it happen in her community as well.

    This could work to your advantage. I will pray for The Father's protection of you and all your family. Those who dig a pit for others often fall into it themselves, Roland

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  5. Sorry, Merissa, I left out a few words while I was busy typing. Humility-R-Us. Roland

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  6. Thanks guys.
    We have the cops investigating, and have figured out a saftey plan, should someone try to break in while we're there. (It involves getting out of the house if possible, or upstairs to a safe room we've put together if not.) Plus, the neighbors are watching out for us pretty closely at this point, so hopefully we'll be fine.
    I always feel like I can take care of myself, but with three little ones, I do worry for them.

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