The lack of yard signs in front of my house is not due to a lack of support for President Obama.

It is a reflection of the fact that my neighbors scare me.

I live in deep red Alabama. Recently I heard a right-winger talking about how they can tell that President Obama has lost support compared to 2008 because they don't see near as many yard signs in support of him. I thought about how my neighbors might see my yard and think that I have lost enthusiasm for President Obama. In 2008, on election day, my yard was covered from property line to property line in yard signs. Most of them were in support of President Obama. Before and for some time after the election I had a single Obama sign at the front of my yard. This year I don't have any signs. I don't even have one for the congressional election. The reason is simple... the people around here scare me. One of my neighbors told me what some other neighbors had to say about my signs last time. I had no idea people were talking about them but they were. The things that they were saying went beyond a simple political disagreement. People were mad specifically because of the signs that were in support of Barack Obama. Even having lived here for much of my life I was surprised to find out someone would call me a "nigger lover" and say that I don't belong in my neighborhood. It was a bit of a kick in the gut when I heard it. It never occurred to me that my yard signs would make me or my family a target for such hatred. When it came time to consider putting up my yard signs again I thought about the sentiment that was expressed in 2008 and I thought about how much the hatred has been ramped up since then. That was enough to make me decide against putting any signs in my yard or any stickers on my car. Call me a coward if you would like but the safety of my family is priority number one and I just don't feel safe expressing my political views where strangers can see at this time. Not in Alabama anyway.

So if you drive by my house you might not know that there are enthusiastic Obama supporters inside but believe me there are and no amount of fear will stop us from casting our vote at the polls.