I started putting signs on freeways after the Bush V. Gore decision. They were large, heavy things made from scrap wood or old doors that I’d chain to overpasses with cheap bike locks, usually in the dead of night. I knew enough to put them off to the side so there was no real danger of their falling into traffic, but it was still unwieldy, difficult, and by using locks, also illegal. Unlike the freeway signs I’d seen before, which were usually hand-or-spray-painted on bedsheets, mine were done by tracing and painting lettering with an overhead projector, and they looked great. And while they were usually taken down sooner than I’d like, enough of them stayed up long enough that by the end of a week or so I felt I could retire. I hadn’t reversed the decision of course, but having made my point to a couple of hundred thousand people, I felt like I’d done my part.
One of my first signs: heavy, illegal being locked to the infrastructure, and even if not over traffic, not entirely safe.Then came 9/11, the run up to and commencement of the Iraq war followed by the gradual unravelling of the lies that were behind it. After reading Joe Wilson’s letter to the New York Times laying bare the lies about yellowcake uranium, the first thing I thought about was the Clinton impeachment and the years of listening to the GOP going on and on about how he lied. About a blowjob. The next thing I thought were the words “Nobody died when Clinton lied.” and when I googled them they had one hit - a message board somewhere I think in New Mexico. Then I did what anyone would do and wrote a letter to my editor at the LA Times. “Sirs - Nobody died when Clinton lied.” When they didn’t publish it, I thought “Fuck you then, I’ll publish it myself.” And that was the start of my first campaign.
My first campaign...In San Diego I’d lived in a neighborhood where there were lots of alleys, and scrap wood and doors were what I’d seen laying around. My new home wasn’t too far from a cluster of plumbing supply places. Behind them there were always a bunch of giant water-heater boxes - nice stiff cardboard which was conveniently already white. And as it turned out, using cardboard changed everything. It was light, foldable, and could be secured easily and quickly in a variety of ways to all sorts of places: to fencing simply with bungee cords, wood with hammer and nails, or against flat surfaces with spring clamps or binder clips. Practically everything that could be seen from a freeway became a potential signposting spot, and with practically an unlimited supply of the stuff my garage became a signmaking studio where little by little I streamlined and perfected the process to where I could crank out eight or ten signs in an hour.
Water heater boxes: the discovery that changed, and alas somewhat doomed, my life.I’d fill the back of my truck with signs and cruise the freeways of southern California, looking for places that were easy to see from traffic, but not easy to get to. That became the game, and it was a game with rules that worked entirely in my favor. Apart from actual prisoners you won’t find many people as imprisoned as those who are in cars stuck in traffic. Or even if traffic’s flowing smoothly, it can pass by fencing that’s fifty feet away but would take miles and miles of driving to actually get to. And the peripheries of freeways were all practically no-man’s lands that became all mine once I discovered what I called the cloak of power. A simple highway safety vest immediately changed me from a suspicious character into a man just doing his job. And as a bonus, wearing a highway vest makes a guy putting up a sign look like a guy who’s taking one down…
My daughter wearing a safety vest — otherwise known as the cloak of power.And at night I’d google the words “Nobody died when Clinton lied.” and watch the hits grow from 1 to 18 to a hundred-and-something and then move their way into tens and for awhile even hundreds of thousands. And when I started to see it on bumper stickers I thought to myself, my god I’ve actually done something here… Just with cardboard and paint and an overhead projector I was able to inject a meme directly into the society, and it wasn’t all that hard, and frankly it was a whole lot of fun.
This machine not only kills fascists, it makes great looking signs and allows you to watch Netflix on a wall!Ever since then, I’ve been practicing on freeways and preaching on the internet the gospel of freewayblogging. You came through and joined me during the Bush years, and I think you’ll all agree it’s even more important now. While we didn’t impeach Bush or end the war, if I’d done a better job explaining how easy it was trust me, we could have: the potential of this medium is really that great. What we did do is get a whole lot of press in the foreign media, and I got over a thousand e-mails from people in other countries saying how we reaffirmed their faith in America. Let’s face it that faith needs some reaffirmation pretty badly right now, and if this weekend’s action takes off the next thing we’re doing is putting out a press release to the foreign media. But more than that we need to make this a dry run for the fight that may be ahead of us. I honestly think this President’s going to try to hold onto power even after it’s proven he’s there thanks to and in the service of Russia. We’ve already seen all we need to from Trump, as well as the bizarre and frightening spectacle of people like Sean Hannity trying to excuse collusion with Russia as somehow legitimate or normal. This is the sort of bullshit we need to start shouting down now.
I didn’t do this. Somebody else did, using cardboard and a projector in one of my spots. Words cannot describe how happy this makes me.The First Amendment was written purposefully to be overly-broad to protect the right of citizens to speak out to the fullest extent possible for exactly the kind of situation we’re finding ourselves in now. And even if you can’t picture yourself walking onto an overpass, you’d have a hard time convincing me or yourselves that you’re not capable doing something as easy as this. And maybe you’re uncomfortable with all this high-minded talk about founding fathers and defending your country and all that. I don’t blame you: frankly I’m uncomfortable with it myself. I’m no more patriotic than anybody else - the notion I’m defending my party, my country or my constitutional rights, to the extent that’s even true, it’s just icing on the cake to be perfectly honest. Even being able to speak out or thinking I’m serving as an example to others are pretty powerful motivations, I still doubt that I’d still be doing this if wasn’t such a great game and so fun to play, just figuring out the best way to put words in front of eyeballs.
This is a pretty succinct example of the point I’m trying to make.And I’m sure once I can get you to make a sign or two and play along with me by figuring out the best place to post them, you’ll see what I’ve been talking about all of this time. Especially when you drive by after a few hours or a day or two and see that your sign’s still there speaking for you, you’ll find it feels really great to have a voice because let’s face it that’s a pretty rare feeling. And when you hear Trump dog whistling to the racist idiots of his base or the mainstream neo-fascists like Hannity on FOX or the scum infesting AM radio… when you hear them talk about “fake news” or the “deep state” or armed insurrection rising up to protect their so-called “People’s President…” You’ll know how quickly, easily and completely we can shut that violent redneck shit down with the awesome power of free speech and assembly of the First Amendment. Their talk about taking up arms in the streets will be shouted down by the voice that we have on the freeways. As the Founding Fathers intended, if it’s the will of the people, we can protect our nation easily without firing a shot. The Nazis and racists can threaten to take to the streets and make them run red because that’s the sort of thing they like to do. Free assembly is part of the American Way, and even Fascists can take to the streets if they want to. In this case however if the streets run red it won’t be with blood so much as just a mixture of spit and chewing tobacco.
Turning this into ideas in the minds of half a million people is lot easier and more fun than you think. Follow me on Twitter