Associationism 0

Here in Virginia Beach, local elections are by city charter non-partisan. In other words, candidates are not supposed to display their party affiliation (though I can attest that at lesast one candidate this year has displayed his party affiliation on a campaign sign, ensuring that I would not vote for him on a bet, but that’s another story) and candidates are not identified by party on ballots.

In a time of shrinking newspapers and superficial coverage of local elections in broadcast news, finding information about local candidates’ positions and policy has become increasingly difficult. Indeed, when candidates knock on your door, they sometimes become very vague when asked specific questions about their positions. (The particular candidate of whom I heard a first-hand account of such behavior turned out, natch, to be a right-wing nutjob.)

At our recent DL gathering, one of our attendees said that he practices what I would call “associationism” in trying to figure out who to support and, perhaps, more importantly, who to shun.

He looks at campaign signs in persons’ yards. If one of the signs endorses a candidate he finds repugnant, he considers that an indication he should look askance at the others represented by signs are in that yard.

Methinks he is onto something.