For the longest time tobacco was the big cash crop here in Kentucky. Times change and tobacco went out of style, leaving people scrambling to find a new cash crop.
Some turned to growing marijuana but they forgot to get it greenlit by the government. If you think the taxman is ill-tempered, you should meet the folks from the DEA.
What's a poor farmer to do? Grow political signs! For the life of me I can't figure out how there's any cash in it but that's what it appears everyone has switched to.
Since the pandemic began it seems more and more people are getting interested in farming. Political signs can apparently grow anywhere, which makes them ideal for urban farming.
Used to they would only grow every other year but with global warming their growing season just keeps getting longer.
Seeing everyone's crops as I was wondering around got me to thinking. Each of these signs represents some small amount of money and when you replicate this on street after street, neighborhood after neighborhood, all across this country it starts to add up a bit.
If you think about it, money is a physical representation of time. Here in Kentucky $7.25 USD is the same thing as one hour of someone's life working minimum wage. Or at bulk rates, 2-3 signs.
How many hours of how many peoples' lives does our cash crop represent? Aside from irritating our neighbors, what do we even get from it? Can anyone honestly say that a yard sign changed how they voted?
Some are slightly terrifying. More disturbing is the passive aggressive attempt at peer pressure that they represent. What purpose does advertising your political sympathies serve other than to pressure others imitate you?
I guess if you plant them right they work almost as well as a picket fence.
Curiously, visibility seems to be more important than sunlight for making them grow.
Being near a highway is especially beneficial for them.
In extreme cases they may turn into an invasive species.
Whatever you do, don't let them cross-pollinate!
Are political signs a cash crop where you live too?