The University of Idaho Argonaut

Believe it or not, Election Day is exactly two weeks away.
And people who have decided who they are putting their check mark next to on Nov. 4 are pushing hard for the undecided to vote their way.
With it being so close, the atmosphere should be heavy with discussion and dissection of the candidates, their platforms and their beliefs.
A large Barack Obama campaign sign in Deary, Idaho was spray painted and then restored.

The same sign was later stolen and ripped up and then again repaired.
It was then set on fire, which spread through the field it was in.
People have every legal right to express their opinion. In fact, it is absolutely encouraged in our democratic nation.
But that right doesn’t extend to illegal acts — arson for example.

This is one of the most important elections the country has ever seen — it could lead to its first black president or its first female vice president — and it is important to let every voice and opinion be heard.
How does setting fire to a political campaign add to talking about the candidates?

Was there no other way to express this viewpoint?
It was dangerous, not constructive and doesn’t get a conversation started about why this person disagrees with Obama. Who does he or she convince about their stance by committing a crime?

Instead, people are concerned with the juvenile act of violence and ignorance and disengaged with the idea that this person was trying to say something. Unfortunately, it has taken away from the mature political discussion this area needs.
The only thing that came out of it was a fire.

Next time, write a letter to the editor, talk to someone in line at a grocery store, post a blog on the internet, make a sign and put it up around your community or start a conversation in a coffee shop.
Acts of violence only set conversations back instead of moving them forward, and those conversations need to happen.