From 2011-
( I guess I should point out that Lyndon Larouche died today. No truth to the report that his last words were, “Holy shit, I guess I really could have been president!”
My neighborhood is a damn fine place. So when I saw the Larouchies with their table in front of the post office the other day, I just couldn't stop myself. I kept wanting to walk down there and execute the metaphorical takedown, but my daughter was with me, and I can get a little irate at times when it comes to idiots. Eventually, I was able to walk the two blocks to the post office armed with Lyndon Larouche facts. I understand why the Obama as Hitler posters are so offensive, but I don't really see much point in complaining about the offensive nature of the posters. The Larouchies want you to take offense at their poster, because that's all they have going for them. According to Larouche, “Granted, the Nazis did not kill six million Jews, but they did kill upwards of a million and a half.” Anyway, “Whether Hitler killed one and a half million Jews or more, which he did, or six million Jews which he did not, really makes little difference . . . “
I asked them why they thought using Hitler imagery was so useful. Kind of an odd question, so they didn’t have much to say. I find out he doesn’t even know how many people died in the holocaust. I told him Larouche's opinion about the number killed in the holocaust. They don’t really care.
They don’t really even have much candidate information or anything. I asked him if he could tell me which party Larouche was running for. The first thing he did was say something like this, "Oh, so everything is just fine, huh? You're just gonna go about your business like nothing's happening." I told him that such a comment wasn't relevant to my question, and that the choice isn't binary. I think he didn't understand the word. I didn't make an argument for Obama, nor did I argue against the offensive imagery in the sign. I stayed there for at least an hour. I asked them to tell me why Larouche thinks Raisa Gorbachev attempted to assassinate him in his home.
Q. What do they get taught in "Camp Larouche?"
A. "Dump Obama" It was pretty obvious what they are taught. They are taught that their bread and butter is going to be senior men. Every time they see a man who is older than 60 walk out of the post office, they immediately accost him. "Are you ready to dump Obama?" Maybe they get a bite. Maybe they don't. My strategy was to get them to advocate for a candidate. They couldn't. They simply don't know anything about Larouche. If they got a bite on this one, I would let their catch know that Larouche runs as a Democrat, is a former communist, and supports a massive infrastructure project. If they are going after the Fox News demographic, then I figure it's fair to argue against their position with something that will resonate with that demographic.
Tear Down the Solar Panels Part of the Larouchie's platform is to "tear down" the solar panels, and to create a massive system of dams to create a huge hydro power system. A cursory glance at their materials show that it would basically drag water down from Canada and Alaska into the US. If they were able to catch the ear of a younger person who may be disappointed with Obama's lack of liberalness, I would say this, "Don't ask them who they are against. We already know who they are against. Ask them who they are for." They didn't like that. They have no interest in talking about who they are for. They claimed to have a set of candidates, but they only handed out one of those fliers the entire time. The person didn't even take that flier. So I would inform the more liberal person they had attracted. I would tell that person that these guys don't want to explore solar power. They want to instead cut into all those rivers for power. That sort of thing resonates here in Seattle. We support things like renewable energy, rivers and fish are ongoing issues here. It's something that changes the way people vote.
"You're Harassing Us!" Eventually, they got tired of me intervening in their conversations and not allowing them to sucker people. One thing is abundantly clear- they recognize that they are behaving deceptively when they use the tactics they use. It's pretty obvious from their unwillingness to go any further than the "dump Obama" rhetoric. I asked them to justify their support for their guy. I asked this over and over and over. I can be really annoying, just ask my kids. Eventually, one of them just said, "He's not going to win! Okay!" I thought that was pretty good "get." I made sure that other people were aware of his opinion.
He tried to film me. As he filmed me, I repeated facts about Larouche. He tried to act as if I were afraid of him. I was slightly agitated, but not overly so. He eventually stopped filming. He insisted that I was breaking the law by being in his space. As you no doubt are aware, by making their advocacy public, they are open to as much criticism as I can possibly dish out. I let them know this fact. "I'm calling the police!"
He tried to compare the harassment he was receiving to the scenario of a single woman who is being targeted by someone. He asked me to leave. I told him that I'd leave when I felt like it. They had come to my neighborhood, and I was doing what any right thinking person should do. I was protecting my neighborhood from them.
This is the best part of all. He called the police. I told the guy that what he did was an unfortunate mistake. 1. "Not only are you wrong about free speech," I said, "but you also made it so that I am forced to stay here! I can't leave when you've called the police. That would be irresponsible!" (In this case, 1. is plenty. 2 is not required.)
So I waited. They failed over and over and over. I asked them if I could have some of their newsletters. They refused to share them with me. I asked them about the magazine they had. They told me that it cost 5 dollars. I looked at it. It said, "5.00 contribution." I guessed that they weren't able to sell it, because they would break some campaign laws. I told them that it was probably a legal error on their part to tell me that it costs money to purchase. I told them, "Really, I could just take that, right?"
He told me that I was being an asshole. I agreed. I told the one with the beard, "Yes, you're right, I'm being an asshole, but being an asshole is not illegal."
These two imbeciles were so poorly prepared for this. Someone came out and said that the two were paid. They didn't disagree, but I didn't really think it mattered, so I didn't press it. Eventually, the police came. The officer huddled with the Larouchies. The Larouchies complained that I was interrupting their discussions. I noticed afterwards that the police had parked their cruiser in front of the "Huge Meat Sandwich" store up the road. I can only assume that they weren't all that interested in the Larouchies, but more likely they wanted a sandwich.
The officer walked over to me. He clarified that I was interrupting them. I was fully confident that what I was doing was within the bounds of the law. The officers confirmed that. I felt like rubbing it in a little bit, so I made sure to clarify a couple things for myself and the Larouchies. I asked how far into their space I could go. I asked if it was necessary for me to have an official looking table to act as a counterprotest. No, of course not. The police went to get their sandwiches. In the entire time I stood there with the Larouchies, they were able to get one person to fill out a form. Whether they would have gotten more, or whether that guy actually signed it as a statement of support for them, because I was harassing the larouchies... I don't know.
Here's what I said before I left them to their own devices: "Well, it looks like you're failing pretty well all by yourselves, so I'll let you guys at that."