Stealth voters

One of the things I'll never do again is donate to a political candidate. The resulting solicitations for more donations were bad enough, but what really got my attention was folks at the University suggesting everyone hunt down those who donated for non-left-wing candidates, via public records of donations, and make their lives miserable.

Turns out others have also noticed this kind of intolerance:

Here's an Instapundit poll on how folks feel about a Seattle Web site called "The Stranger" posting the addresses of people displaying Republican yard signs.

This comment, by Tell Sackett explains the results:
"My property abuts a busy highway. It is a great place for signs, but I don't put any up. I know from experience that a sign for a conservative cause or candidate will cause my property to be trashed for 24-48 hours and then the sign will be torn down. Democrat candidates routinely place signs on my property without permission. I take those down. No republican candidate has ever done that. Likewise, no stickers are displayed on my car. I don't like the obscene gestures and reckless driving displays they engender among the moonbat drivers and I am tired of returning to my car in a parking lot to find it nicked, scratched and bashed by the enthusiastic opponents of my chosen candidates. I also don't wear buttons or anything else on my person identifying my political persuasion. I've noted the faces of friendly pierced baristas down at the coffee sharp darken with rage at the sight of a McCain-Palin button. I don't trust these people to handle my food and, frankly, I don't need the stress from the constant negative vibe. In fact, I don't even express my opinion verbally, so long has it been since I had an intelligent, civil conversation with a democrat. I don't take calls from pollsters. I really don't have the time and I think the polls are deliberately skewed and used to mislead anyway. Besides, I want my candidates to make up their own minds on policy and not shift with the wind. But I do vote.

I am an invisible conservative voter. I have no 1st Amendment rights. My demographic goes unmeasured until election day. I know there are a lot of people like me , but of course I don't have any idea how many exactly. We'll find out on Tuesday. It may come as a surprise."

What's funny about this is that my sister-in-law moved to Seattle because it is such a tolerant area. But she's a fervent Democrat, so perhaps for her it really is....

As I've said before, of all the freedoms we enjoy, the single most important may be the right to a secret ballot. (So naturally that too is under attack by union advocates of "card check" union elections, that would make it all too easy for thugs to threaten those who haven't yet made what the thugs consider the correct choice.)