The anger is clear. A single word – LIARS – sprayed in blue paint across the "Welcome to Ellenville" sign at the top of the rise on Route 209, just north of town. On the face of it the anger seems directed at Hydro Aluminum, the sponsor of the sign. Who wrote this word? A worker soon to be laid off? Hydro is not well liked at the moment, punishing our community with layoffs and a plant closure in order to increase their profits and enrich their shareholders. To those who gave their time and built a life around Hydro, the resentment is real and justified. Late at night, a victim of coldhearted corporate policy might feel the need to speak out in the only way they see how. Off to the side, in darkness, a word is hastily scrawled, a door slams and a car drives off, the deed done, the perpetrator energized, doing something – anything – to cry out.

This isn't mindless vandalism, destruction for destruction's sake. This isn't a hate crime, or a gang marking its territory. This is speech, no doubt illegal, but speech nonetheless.

It is the voice of someone betrayed, and speaks for the hundreds here and for the hundreds of thousands across America who have been lied to, disrespected, and abused. Lied to by those who we work for, and by those who we elect.

The expectation that an amoral entity like a corporation respects us enough to be truthful is the fundamental lie. They are larger than us, they do not live here, and they are hardly affected by what happens here. We accept the few dollars they throw at us, and play by the rules they set. We expect they value our compliance, but they don't. They tell us what we need to hear, give us just enough to keep quiet, and will do what makes sense to them and them alone.

It is easy to forget the news once the story is old and part of history. By and large the Hydro plant closing affects other people, to some our friends and family, but to most just others. We forget their struggle is still real, and grows more severe as the date of the closure approaches. We forget that most will face financial hardship, be forced to accept less, and many will leave. Our community will be poorer for it. Last night someone has reminded us: we are still here.

Who are the liars? Our local leaders whose job it is to protect everyone's prosperity, not just their own? The corporations who promise to be good citizens in exchange for our labor, and then hurt us? Or are we the liars, telling ourselves and our children stories of how it ought to be, instead of how we know it really is? We trust, knowing full well disappointment is inevitable.

Certainly within a few days the sign will repainted, or removed. An uncomfortable reminder that all is not well will be erased. But the lie has been told, and it will not go away.

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