There is nothing wrong with heated political campaigns.

There is nothing wrong with strong disagreements.

And there is nothing wrong with putting up a campaign sign supporting the candidate you believe is best qualified to lead your community.

But there is something very wrong with destroying, defacing or vandalizing those signs.

The Town of Newburgh supervisor’s race has become increasingly contentious as Election Day approached.

Campaign signs have been covered with opposing candidates’ stickers, marked with black ink and, according to candidates, in some cases pulled from the ground.

None of that is acceptable.

A campaign sign represents someone’s political speech. You may disagree with the candidate. You may strongly dislike the candidate. You may believe the candidate is completely wrong on every issue.

You still don’t have the right to destroy his or her property.

Put a sign of your own next to it. Knock on doors. Make phone calls. Write a letter to the editor. Post your arguments on social media. Vote.

That’s how democracy is supposed to work.

And then there is the swastika.

The spray-painted Nazi symbol found on Republican supervisor candidate Scott Manley’s campaign sign is not merely another example of campaign vandalism. It is an act that carries a particularly hateful and horrifying message.

Manley is Jewish. He has spoken publicly about relatives who died in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.

And here is a fact that should make every resident of the Town of Newburgh stop and think:

Manley’s Democratic opponent, Stephen Krasner, is also Jewish.

Two men from different political parties are competing for the same office. They may have different ideas about how the Town of Newburgh should be governed. They may disagree on taxes, spending, development, public safety or any number of other issues.

But they share something that should make the use of a swastika in this campaign particularly repugnant.
They are both Jewish.

That should make this incident personal to the entire community — not because Jewish candidates deserve special protection from political criticism, but because no candidate, regardless of religion, deserves to be targeted with symbols of genocide and hatred.

The swastika represents a regime responsible for the systematic murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of hatred in modern history.

Using it against a Jewish candidate in a local election is beyond political disagreement. It is despicable.

To his credit, Krasner immediately and unequivocally condemned the vandalism against his opponent. The Town of Newburgh Democratic Committee likewise condemned the act and denied any involvement in the vandalism.

That is exactly how it should be.

Political opponents do not have to like one another. They do not have to agree. They don’t even have to be particularly friendly.

But they should recognize that there are lines that must not be crossed.

And the rest of us should recognize those lines, too.

There is a temptation in today’s politics to view the other side not simply as wrong, but as evil. Social media rewards outrage. Campaigns become increasingly personal.

Supporters sometimes convince themselves that almost anything is justified because the stakes are supposedly so high.

That is dangerous.

When political disagreement turns into vandalism, intimidation and hatred, everyone loses.

Today it is an opponent’s campaign sign. Tomorrow it could be a political headquarters, a house, a business or a person.

The answer cannot be to respond in kind.

The answer must be to step back.

We urge every candidate, campaign worker and political supporter in the Town of Newburgh to do exactly that during the final days of this campaign. Respect your opponents. Respect their property. Tell your volunteers and supporters that vandalism will not be tolerated.

And if you see someone destroying or defacing a political sign, don’t cheer them on because you happen to dislike the candidate on the sign. Report it.

We should be able to have fierce political disagreements without losing our basic decency.

We should be able to campaign hard without becoming cruel.

And we should be able to recognize that a swastika has no place on a campaign sign — or anywhere else in our community.

The people of the Town of Newburgh deserve better.

We should be above this.