Hitchhiking to Pearl Harbor

Item One: Today is December 7th, and while the date of 9/11 has been emblazoned in the minds of our young generation as a day of infamy, those of us of an older generation will remember today’s date as the original “Day of Infamy.”

It’s hard to believe that it has been 66 years since Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, pulling the U.S. into WWII. While neither were at Pearl Harbor, both my father and my mother served during World War II, my dad in the Army and my Mom in the Coast Guard. Not too many Iowans served in the Coast Guard, but we have my Mom and her fellow comrades to thank for making sure the Nazi’s never stormed Dubuque.

We don’t have too many of our World War II vets with us anymore. I lost my own father in 2002, although my mother is still with us, as well as her sister Harriet who served in the WAVE’s as a nurse. Today’s column is dedicated to them, as well as the rest of the fine men and women who served this country over 60 years ago.

Item Two: If you want to travel up and down California, you basically have two options: Highway 5 which travels up the center of the state from L.A. to Sacramento, or Highway 101, which winds up the coast from San Diego through San Francisco and above. I live about 5 blocks from the 101.

Anyhow, I was traveling North on the 101 the other day from San Luis Obispo to my home town of Templeton, when I passed a hitchhiker sitting on a backpack on the side of the road, holding up a sign that read “San Francisco”. I didn’t give it much thought, hitchhikers are common on the 101. About 5 miles later I passed a second hitchhiker, also holding a sign that read “San Francisco”, although this guy was doing the classic backwards walk, with his thumb sticking out. Again, I didn’t give him much thought (I don’t pick up hitchhikers), but for some reason on the remainder of the drive the image of these two men stuck in my brain. Why? It’s not like seeing a hitchhiker on the 101 is a rarity.

A little while after I got home, it hit me. What I was seeing was not two hitchhikers, but rather two individuals that represent the two political spectrums I write about so much in this blog: conservatives and liberals.

Both of these men had a huge journey ahead of them. San Francisco is about 220 miles North of San Luis Obispo. And it occurred to me that if no one stopped and picked up either of these guys, the first gentleman could conceivably be sitting in that same spot next time I return to San Luis. However, the second hiker, the one that was actually walking towards San Francisco, would eventually arrive in San Francisco, even if he had to walk all the way.

I once heard Bob Dole state that “Liberalism is defined by how many people it helps, while conservatism is defined by how many people no longer need help.” I imagine the individual sitting on the side of the road as someone who does not have health insurance, and he’s sitting there waiting for the automobile that is government to stop and give him insurance. And then we have the second gentleman, who is actually working towards his goal, rather than waiting for someone to stop and hand him a solution. If somewhere along the way something happens that moves him closer to his goal more quickly, then great. BUT if that doesn’t happen he will still ultimately reach that goal. His “but I’m entitled” friend may not be so lucky.

Look, I’m lucky, because my employer offers me health insurance. But if they dropped that as an option tomorrow and I decided that health insurance was important to me (and considering I have a family, it’s very important to me), then there is nothing stopping me from finding a different job that does offer insurance.

My friend Jody has a banner at the top of her blog that reads “The State Is Not A Substitute For Personal Responsibility”, and I believe there is nothing truer than that statement. Jesus himself said “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.” Huh, I guess Jesus was a conservative after all.