Almost five years ago I introduced the term “Yard Sign Calvinism” to describe a variety of progressive who believe that their beliefs render them morally superior to everyone else, and they demonstrate this through the use of yard signs. “By these yard signs we are saved” is their credo.
In the years since, I have gotten pushback from conservative Christians of the Reformed variety who resent the comparison. While I think that Calvinism should everywhere and always be mocked, regardless of the practitioner’s politics, there good reason to avoid needless antagonism. Antagonism should always be deliberate, necessary and targeted.
Thus the new term, Yard Sign Puritans. Actual Puritans are extinct, and the name has an appropriately negative connotation. Puritans were of course Calvinists, but the Reformed types have disowned them.
I made this decision after strolling through the neighborhood, and noting that a house with a lawn packed with signs, had the most neglected lawn on the block. The grass hadn’t been mowed in weeks and leaves were piled up on the porch.
Of course, it is possible that the occupant may have issues precluding regular lawn care, but the contrast between diligently loading up yard signs while neglecting their setting is just too on the nose to ignore.
It is poor aesthetics, but neglecting one’s yard has external consequences, as I discussed during No Mow May, which was also part of the Yard Sign Puritan mentality. Neglected lawns spread weeds and also harbor ticks and mosquitos. Put simply, it is not a neighborly thing to do.
Hopefully this will remove some of the friction regarding this term, because I have increasingly become convinced that for many people, politics are their faith and their polices are based on feelings rather than outcomes. If we are to understand (and defeat) these beliefs, we must first understand them, and also grasp that logic is of limited utility in countering it.
When people make arguments based entirely on morality, they must be refuted using moral arguments.
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