As a Sun City West resident for 29 years, I’m deeply troubled by the direction we’re heading and it’s getting worse with each day’s front-page headline.
We’ve become a politically divided hotbed of cranky seniors unwilling to accept a neighbor’s opposing views. Political remarks with strangers are guarded until it’s determined which side of the fence they’re on. With my Republican friends, almost any mention of the coming election could develop into an argument. Usually it’s a brief exchange and never ends well.
Campaign signs dot neighborhood yards of residents courageous enough to display them. Across the street, a pro-Biden sign was posted in front of the corner house; next door is a pro-Trump sign. So much for a close neighborly relationship. A friend who told us her Trump sign had been stolen was furious.
A couple of weeks ago, five or six identical Trump signs fairly equally spaced 20 or 30 yards apart were spotted on the northwest side of R.H. Johnson Boulevard between 147th and 151st avenues. They had been pounded through rocks between a sidewalk and a tall wall. A week later I counted only three of them. I considered calling PORA to ask about a possible violation but didn’t bother. Perhaps someone else complained. Today they were all gone.
The current and most critical issue that dominates nightly newscasts, filling the Supreme Court vacancy before or after the Nov. 3 election, has caused blood pressures to rise even higher.
Admittedly, I am as guilty as anyone in expressing my opinions about what’s going on in Washington. Having read about Martha McSally being among the first senators to push for an immediate court appointment by President Trump, I couldn’t resist contacting her. Identifying myself as a registered Independent, I sent her an email, even though I knew it would be a waste of time. In part, I stated, “Unless you strongly oppose any attempt to fill the Supreme Court vacancy before America elects the next president, I will not vote for you.”
