Retribution in What Used to Be a Nice, Friendly Town?

You may remember that I wrote the other day about asking a question regarding the placement of American flags in our town. I asked why all homes didn’t get flags since that is what had been done in the past. It seemed that some areas of the town were prioritized.

Immediately I was called a “divider” and was accused of several other obnoxious conspiracy theory motives by some rich guy who moved here from California and who now lives in a million dollar home a half mile away from me. How dare I question his placement of flags done at night with “his boys.”

Other people told me there was a shortage of flags, but yet some of the homes in town had four or five flags placed in their yards while many of us in the less traveled areas had none. Again, I asked a question. I wasn’t the only one, but I put it in writing. I do that a lot.

Curious thing is that the day after I asked, flags started cropping up on streets all over the general neighborhood where I lived. All except my street of course. To be fair, I don’t know if those people went out and got their own flags. And, I have my own flags, three to be exact, that I have had for a while. So, maybe it’s just a coincidence.

But then today something happened that hasn’t happened in over a year. I had kept my Trump 2020 sign up in my yard. Why, you ask? Partially because I wanted to show my continued support of him and partly because I knew that people wanted to force me to take it down and they couldn’t. It was a blow for my free speech. My husband even suggested I get a Trump 2024 sign, but I just didn’t.

Today I discovered that my Trump 2020 sign was gone. Taken. Stolen. It was done last night, in the dark, sort of like when all those flags were supposedly planted in people’s yards. Huh. Another coincidence. Two in three days.

Perhaps it was someone coming home drunk from a bar who just wanted to be an asshole. Maybe it was one of those trust fund babies who come down on weekends and hang out in granny and grandpa’s pool. You know, the ones from those expensive Eastern Elite schools where the professors teach ” Hate America at all Costs.” Or maybe it was just someone who had his/her panties in a twist because I challenged them online or they hate Trump and Trump followers. I don’t know. I’ll reserve judgement, although I do have a security camera that records at night. Anyway…

If it was their intent to shut me up or shut me down, it was a total failure. I’m one of those contrarian people who actually gets energized by things like this.

I decided to “one up” these morons. My husband, who is as non-political as they come, helped me put up one of my Trump flags. We put it on the limb of a tree. It’s actually an upgrade because it is much more visible and it has the phrase “No More Bullshit” on it. He even said, ” You should thank the person because this is so much better.” He’s right. It’s so much more visible. And I have more of them. (Picture above)

But, two things. One is that in the 40 years I have lived in this town, I have seen it change so much. My husband has lived here his whole life, even before indoor plumbing was available. He says the same. It used to be a friendly town, a town where you could say what you thought and people would disagree or not, and then life went on. We greeted each other if we saw each other in town, waved at each other, and made sure everyone felt at home. It’s not that way anymore. When I run or walk my dog in the morning, I wave at everyone, even if I know you disagree with me politically. Most people wave back. I speak to those who walk, run, or ride by. Most people respond back. But, there’s a group that won’t wave, won’t respond if you have the “wrong” shirt on or if they just don’t recognize you.

Maybe it’s social media causing the problem. I think that is part of it, but I also think that it may be the nature of the people that have fled their expensive and violent cities to come here. Some of them are great and fit right in, like the lady down the street from me. She and I talk often and she is so down to earth. They came here for what this town has been, not to make it some elite homeowner’s association. The rest want to control the town and all its residents and make it into the image of what they left, only with them in charge. CaliOxford. DistrictofOxford. NewOxford.

They hope they can eventually price us out and make every home a million dollar mansion. Again, it’s not all of them, but it is some of them. And it is also some of those who have lived here long term. As one of them said once, ” If you can’t afford to pay the taxes on your home you shouldn’t live here.” And that person is a LIBERAL BIDEN SUPPORTER.

Anyway, the town has changed, and not for the better. Thank God for the few hold outs who still live here!

The second point is that these jerks expect to intimidate us. They expect to shut us up, shut us down. They think a few names will quiet us. Believe me, I’ve been called everything for my opinions, they are just words. I had a lady yesterday whose name is Grace who got upset with me because she had posted a comment that she wanted Tucker Carlson removed from televison because she doesn’t like him or his opinions. When I called her on that and said that perhaps she would prefer not to hear the truth, she clutched her pearls and typed a comment that she was not political, that I shouldn’t comment on her opinion, and that she knew my viewpoints and could easily comment on them. Wow. I actually DID laugh out loud.

I guess she thought I would run screaming away saying, “oh please don’t comment on my opinions.” I don’t think she understands that I post my opinions knowing people will see them and comment on them. I told her that. Then she told me some other nonsense and told me not to reply because she didn’t want to get in a “pissing match.”

Um. Someone tell Grace that’s not how it works.

At any rate, whether they think they can silence you by the theft of a sign, calling you names, or clutching their pearls and telling you not to reply to them, we can’t let them get away with it. It’s going to get ugly and rough. But we can’t stand down. Like Lt. Governor Robinson of North Carolina says, “Start some trouble.”

We have to, even in our small towns. It’s what the founders did, except they fully expected to lose their lives. We aren’t there yet.

But if we don’t stand up, we could get there.