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Health & Fitness

The real reason for sign in right of way issues in Salem. Why I am a Classical Liberal

The Salem Board of Selectmen have voted to prohibit all signs from charitable groups   from town right of ways.  The intimidate issue is that Salem Fest wants to put up signs in the right of ways as they have for years. 

The real problem is not signs from charitable groups.  It is not the illegal signs that people and businesses who are ignorant of the law or don't care.  Illegal signs have been going up for decades with hardly a whimper from politicians. 

The real reason is political signs.  In other words an empty barrel makes the most noise.  Politicians are responding the the fact that they are deluged with  complaints about political signs.  The rest of the discussion is a smokescreen from my point of view.

As a Classical Liberal, the first principle is to always error on the side of Liberty.  Once you get away from this principle you end up with the convoluted logic and machinations that we the Selectmen are facing.  In fact one of the arguments for liberty as a default is utility.  It saves government from such issues.

A better solution would be to allow the signs and pick up the ones that are not picked up when time permits.  As one who has put up and taken down countless signs and probably picked up far more than  I have put up, this seems to me like a workable solution.  That is what we do anyway. 

With all the problems Salem has, our government has spent a great deal of time on this issue for years as Selectman Keller stated.  Those working on this in the past have been some of the highest paid town employees.   The people who would pick up the left over signs are most likely not among the highest paid.  

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