Politics as usual

With the general election just 12 days away, emotions in the trenches are running high and issues such as Proposition 8 (same-sex marriage) and Measure R (the $29-million Oak Park school bond) have inflamed the public.

Some zealots are taking matters to the extreme by stealing campaign signs from private property and pulling other shenanigans that have left a bad taste with voters on both sides of the fence. The candidates who've been harmed are crying foul.

Sign thievery is a common occurrence during campaign season, but that's no excuse to continue the practice. We had hoped voters wouldn't resort to lawlessness in order to give their side an edge. Now those hopes have been dashed.

"Yard signs have been stolen from at least 100 homes in Agoura Hills," said reader Sharon Kinney in a recent email. "As soon as they are replaced, they are again stolen, both during the day and nighttime hours."

How would you feel if somebody infringed on your right to express an opinion? Frustrated, to be sure.

It's not the first time that the partisan vandals have struck our local communities. Races for city council, water district and state Assembly have been marred more than once by these dirty deeds, and some culprits who do the stealing and vandalizing have even been caught on video tape. Denial is always their first line of defense.

Campaign dirty tricks on the national level are a whole other story. We're in the midst of a political struggle that seems to know few boundaries.

As Winston Churchill once said, "Democracy is the worst form of government there is. But it's the best one we've come up with so far."

Our system works, but it does have its flaws.