Category: Musings

I know the political season is very much over. But snow season isn’t.

What does snow have to do with Republicans and Democrats? Let me explain.

When it snows the road that I live on is covered as are all the other roads in town. The difference is that my road is private and therfore not maintained by the county. (There’s a whole other story there)

This means that unless the road is cleared by the residents on the street it can quickly become impassable.

A decade ago when the majority of the people living on the street were Republicans we’d all be working in shifts with our shovels to keep the road clear.

If the storm was really bad we’d all pitch in and hire a local guy with a skiploader to clear the street, and if we kept him warm with hot chocolate or coffee and the occasional batch of cookies, brownies or cupcakes. he’d do the street, and all our driveways for about $150. We’re talking about 2 to sometimes 3 hours of work.

If the snow was light (meaning less than 8″), working together we could clear the road and all our driveways in about 45 minutes to an hour and in the process we talked and enjoyed each others company.

We’d have fun clearing the street, there was the occasional snow ball fight and neighborly camaraderie. We’d share tools, and news, and speculation about how long the storm was going to be.

In short we were a neighborhood and we were all working toward a common goal that served all our needs.

We looked after each other too. It’s not a really good idea to be alone shoveling snow. You can slip, fall and hurt yourself.

Imagine falling breaking a bone and having to crawl 100 yards back to your house because no-one can hear you yelling for help.

We’d have older folks out with their shovels too, and often the younger folks would take care of the older folks walkways and driveways just because it was the right thing to do. The older folks in return would keep warm beverages at hand (sometimes with a little extra kick.)  and they’d look after the smaller children while the rest of us were clearing the snow.

We learned too that if we got the snow off the street before it was driven on or had a chance to pack down then the first sunny day after the storm we’d have a dry ice free road. This was safer and more convenient for all of us especially when you wanted to have friends from below the snow level come up for a visit.

In all it was a nifty system that worked.

Over time, one family after another moved, to be replaced by other people and families. Nothing much was said about the first family living at the end of the street that never joined us in our snow clearing activities. They had small children, and it was no skin off our noses to clear the street and their drive.

It was looked upon as a social duty. After all, suppose one of the children needed to see a doctor during the night? Since the road was clear Mom & Dad could get the child out to a doctor if they needed to.

As a matter of civic duty especially for the older folks, we wanted to make sure that paramedics had unrestricted access to all the homes on the street.

Then another family moved and was replaced.

Now we had two homes that weren’t assisting in snow removal and they also weren’t pitching in any cash on those rare occasions when we needed a skiploader to clear the street.

We still said nothing, and the rest of us still cleared the street.

Over time this replacement of families continued.

Then it was only a 70 year old woman and myself clearing the street. Meanwhile the 20- 40 somethings sat in their homes and in the morning enjoyed the fact that the road was passable and they could drive their kids to school. (After all children shouldn’t have to walk or ride a school bus should they? Yeah, a little sarcasm there.)

It was my 70 year old neighbor who first observed that all the neighbors that weren’t contributing to the common good had bumper stickers for Democratic candidates on their minivans or SUVs.

Her observation came in the middle of a snowstorm while we were arguing about whether she was going to go back inside and let me keep shoveling.

She could be a salty lady and her assessment of the situation was “Typical fucked up Democratic yuppies!”, as she glared at the warmly lit windows on the street.

I lost the argument about her going inside. She pulled the “I’m your elder! routine… Who can argue with that?”

The next year she purchased a home near Palm Springs and killed two birds with one stone. She was warm year round, and didn’t have to shovel any snow.

She’d come back to her home here in the mountains around April just in time for her garden to begin sprouting.

This left me the last Republican on the block, during the winter.

For years I’ve continued to clear the street alone.

I’ve got a 4wheel drive truck so I don’t really need to clear the street in most storms. My truck is good to about a foot and a half of snow.

I still think clearing the street is the responsible thing to do.

This last snow fall, I was clearing my drive and it occurred to me no-one asked me to clear the street. So I shouldn’t be annoyed that absolutely no-one will come out and help even if only for a few minutes.

Following that logic, if no-one asked me to clear the street I shouldn’t. Instead I’m going to clear only that which I feel responsible for and leave the rest to the other people on the street.

That’s exactly what I’ve done.

I’ve already been asked questions. “Why isn’t the street clear?”, “Why is the berm so high? I can’t drive over it and my plastic shovel broke because it’s a wall of ice.”, “Why is the street so icy?”

The topper was this one, “I think you’re being mean by not clearing the street. How am I supposed to get to work?”

That ladies and gentlemen sums up the difference between Republicans and Democrats.

Republicans will shovel the snow off an entire street unasked, because they see the common good in doing it. Democrats expect someone else to do the shoveling.

Republicans will eventually get tired of being taken advantage of and let others around him sink or swim “each to their own ability“.  The Democrats will call him mean and angry.

When a Republican, through planning, takes care of himself and doesn’t need “The System”, the Democrats accuse him of an “I’ve got mine and fuck the rest of you attitude”

Food for thought…