Guest Post by NickelthroweR
Sometimes valuable lessons can be found in the least likeliest of places. For example, I live in a tiny beach town a bit North of Malibu in sunny California. We have our marina, pier, beach, boardwalk and an “historic” downtown district. Our biggest industry here is agriculture but right behind that is tourism and our town has re-purposed itself to make sure that the tourist is well taken care of. After all, our weather is such that tourist season never really has to end and we can count on the fact that when it is 95 degrees in Los Angeles, it will be 75 degrees here at the ocean.
Now, I can’t say for certain what the political leanings of our tourists are but given our location, the number of actors I see, electric vehicles, dress, age and constant virtue signaling on display, I just assume that I’m staring out into a sea of Left Coast Super Liberal Elites.
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So, lets kick this discussion of Socialism off by talking about our Public Option bathrooms. Our beach, boardwalk and the facilities that support them are funded and maintained at taxpayer expense and these taxes must be paid regardless of whether or not YOU choose to visit the beach. In the same manner that you can visit your local park without paying admission, you can come visit our well maintained Public Option beach in all of its Public Option glory.
I’ve traveled to 26 different nations and our bathrooms at the beach rival anything I’ve seen in N. Africa or war torn Serbia. Seriously, I don’t know who taught these Liberal Elites how to use a bathroom but whoever did got it all wrong. Were it up to me, I’d switch all the signs that explain how to extract yourself from an undercurrent and replace those signs with easy to understand instructions on how to use a bathroom. All kidding aside, if I had to choose between taking a crap in one of these bathrooms or just taking a crap in my pants, I might just choose to go in my pants. It would be less traumatic.
There are more lessons to be learned in Tourist Town and the next one is the Flintstone Car.
Like most beaches with a boardwalk, you can rent bicycles. The bicycle rental we have down at the beach as well as the bicycle rental at the hotel both rent the 4 Passenger Flintstone Pedal Car. Of course, you can rent single passenger bicycles in various formats to include beach cruisers, trikes and sand crawlers so no one is forced into the Flintstone bicycle car. People choose to rent it but what kind of people? Lets find out.
Anyone other than someone having a heart attack or stroke can probably leisurely pedal a single passenger bicycle down a smooth flat surface. I don’t care what kind of shape you are in, moving a bicycle on a smooth flat surface just isn’t that hard and really it is easier than walking. I know this to be true because I’ve visited places where the bicycle was the primary means of transportation and I witnessed all walks of life hop on a bicycle and pedal off. My own grandparents lived this way having never owned a car with my grandfather riding a bicycle he bought used in 1936 almost to the day he died.
No, when I see a Flintstone bicycle in action it almost always has one or more obese people in it. In this version of Each According to His Needs, the needy fat people are hoping that the others in the Flintstone bicycle will do their work for them and no one will be the wiser. Of course, it isn’t always the fatties that are trying to avoid doing some work but teenagers as well. Frankly, they may be even worse.
A typical family of four may look like this: Chubby chubs mom & dad in the front huffing and puffing and puzzled as to why people that are just walking are passing them by. In the back may be some children. If they are too young then they do not have the strength to push a Flintstone bicycle with 600lbs of people in it. If they are older then they will be ignoring everything other than their smart phones. I’ve also seen it where four or more teenage girls will rent one of these and they’d really get more use from it if they just pushed it on to the sand and used it as a prop for their selfies.
In this example of Tourist Town Socialism, one or more riders believes that others will carry their weight for them but what ends up happening is that the Flintstone bicycle barely moves and everyone along for the ride is miserable. This isn’t something I see once a week but each and every day. The lesson is right there for anyone to witness.
After the Left Coast Super Liberal Elites finish trashing the beach, destroying the bathrooms and tire of Flintstone bicycles and Fish Tacos, they wander up to the historic downtown where they make things even worse there.
Our little beach town has an infestation of pan handling bums. They swarm our little downtown during business hours and can be found on every street corner. They also like to congregate by businesses where inexpensive tourist trinkets are sold because those are items that people will pay for with cash. Once they get enough money for booze or drugs, they will wander out of the tourist spots and into the public spaces used by the residents of Tourist Town. Ya know, you can lie to yourself that the feces on the ground is from a 160lb dog but in your heart you know some inebriated bum left it there.
Finally, I believe the bums would go away were it not for the tourists giving them money. I suspect that this is part of their virtue signaling whereas they make a big show of giving a bum a dollar so as to demonstrate to everyone around them how accepting and enlightened they just happen to be. They must know that the money given to bums is going straight to drugs and alcohol but they just do not care. Giving a bum a dollar so that he can get hammered and rage through my neighborhood is very important to these people. They wish to exercise their Socialist beliefs by giving away a few dollars without any thought as to what that does to the rest of the community that has to deal with the problem day in and day out. Seriously, how does getting our homeless population smashed on drugs and alcohol make for a better place? If they love these bums so much then they should pack them in their Tesla Roadsters and take them back to their mansions.
In the end, what does Tourist Town teach us about Socialism? How are shared resources treated? Do people work according to their ability or do they expect others to pull their weight? Are handouts to the non productive making the community better or worse?
My only question before visiting is there a bathroom for those who identify as a ring tailed lemur?This is my litmus test before choosing a vacation destination.
“I can’t say for sure what the political leanings of our tourists are, but given our location, the number of actors I see, electric vehicles, dress, age,and the constant virtue signaling on display, I just assume I am staring out into a sea of left coast super liberal elites.”
Congrats nicklethrower, I am jealous, it sounds like you live in a target rich environment.
Sounds good Norman,unless folks decide a nuke is in order here!
I hope the only nukes that go off are in and around D.C. The rest of the country will be able to sort this shit out if left to our own devices.
Oh, amen to that brother!
Great analogy!
When I drove long haul I saw similar behavior at truck stop bathrooms. I always wondered if those assholes trashed their own homes in the same manner. SMFH
Venezuelan pres did what all Dems do promise everything then give them nothing,next loot the country and murder people like Clinton/Obama.Now they are in forced labor for food,starving and scanned like cattle.If Hitlery was elected our kids would be cannibalized and learning pedophilia and satanic spiritcooking in school.Gov Brown legalized under age prostitution, another dem spirit cooker?
Have you seen some of the shit they are trying to teach kids in school and at the earliest age? Its like sesame street LGBBQ sex education. Liberals are evil, “Im a liberal so Im good no matter how depraved”.
Don’t worry, Fukushima is cleaning things up there.
after 35 yrs going CA i hope never go back, it has turn into a cess pool of nuts.
I confess my guilt.I am in and out of truck stops and sometimes in liberal cities on the west coast like Portland Oregon or Seattle Washington . Usually to get fuel and make deliveries.I always carry extra cash money to give to people who ask. Mostly 10 or 20 dollar bills. It’s much easier to give a little money and get rid of said person quickly.They are happy to get some alcohol money and be on their way. Sometimes they do surprise me and actually get something to eat.I guess that makes me an easy mark but it works .
I spent more than 20 years in and out of truck stops. I NEVER gave money, but I did offer a trip to the buffet on me. The buffet takers were about one in ten, the other nine cussed me out. Fuck ’em.
You paint the picture well. A steady diet of anecdotes such as this is good tonic for an ailing body politic. How to get the infected to take the medicine? Pay em? Maybe with a bonus for aceing the final exam? Works with kids. I’ll toss in some ante. I know, I know……..just California dreaming here.
I have always wondered, “Where did that pile of poop half the size my 16 pound dog come from that is in my backyard?” Now I know it is a neighborhood bum. Thanks!
From a pacific paradise to the center circle of a Dantean hell: It sounds like the Left Coast Super Liberal Elites have, indeed, made it a very short trip.
As someone else’s concern.
See # 2 above
Worse. It appears Virtue Signaling equals Good Intentions times Vanity divided by Apathetic Concern for Results.
Or
VS = GI x V ÷ ACfR
Fantastic comparative analysis, complete with test questions. TBP is awesome. Thanks Nickel.
Greetings,
Yeah, it is the old high school teacher in me. BTW, I like your formula.
I find it funny that our beach is peppered with signs telling people of the harm caused by feeding the animals. The signs clearly explain that when you feed the animals then the parents stop teaching their young how to hunt or take care of themselves. If that is true for seagulls, dolphins and sea-lions then wouldn’t it also be true for humans? It seems to me that 50 years of handouts has made an entire demographic 100% incapable of taking care of themselves.
Your essay, above commentary, and my ensuing contemplation of it today, has only reinforced my understanding of what is, perhaps, the root evil of Collectivism: Diminished individual responsibility / accountability.
That would make a great high school class right there.
“OK, kids this weekend’s assignments will be from Emerson’s ‘Self-Reliance’, Paine’s ‘Common Sense’, Adam’s Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’ and ‘Atlas Shrugged’ by, the immutable, Ayn Rand.
Let’s see…. who else am I forgetting? Well…, I guess that’s enough for the weekend. Better get busy. Quiz on Tuesday.”
If only. Maybe after this Fourth Turning? One can dream.
Holy shit that was funny.
“A typical family of four may look like this: Chubby chubs mom & dad in the front huffing and puffing and puzzled as to why people that are just walking are passing them by. In the back may be some children. If they are too young then they do not have the strength to push a Flintstone bicycle with 600lbs of people in it. If they are older then they will be ignoring everything other than their smart phones. I’ve also seen it where four or more teenage girls will rent one of these and they’d really get more use from it if they just pushed it on to the sand and used it as a prop for their selfies.”
I have been visiting Kali off and on since the early 70s. USAF missions, hundreds of airline layovers and regular vacations. I really enjoyed the state and the people when I first started going there. Gradually I noticed some profound changes in the folks that live there. They have gotten further “out there” and lately the whole experience just sucks. It’s really a shame because Kali is a diverse, spectacularly beautiful geographical area. Maybe we should just give it to the Mexicans and be done with it.
take away their statehood & appoint a territorial governor w/o a state legislature–
Maybe give it back to the Mexicans…you mean.
Great article! It made the point in witty ways. Loved the writing style and examples, especially the Flintstone Car and “dog” poop commentary.
About giving money to bums, I wish more people realized what a bad idea it is. Giving free shit to people with bad habits is never a good idea, because it only kicks the can down the road and makes the problem worse in the long run.
The Flintstone car analogy was great,fits the U.S.A perfectly.
When we finally put 5 in the car we know it’s never moving again!
Oh yeah? How about the DMV. THAT’S a nightmare.
I haven’t been down to the DMV for a long time and I hadn’t realized how retarded it has become. It’s so ridiculous these days, I can’t believe it.
I think the folks in charge want to eliminate all face-to-face interactions at the DMV as much as possible and they strongly promote their many online services in all forms of communication with you.
Last week, I realized I somehow lost my license, so I popped over to the DMV for what I thought was a quick trip.
First, I found out DMV doesn’t issue licenses onsite anymore. For what I assume are security reasons, they are issued from a “secure central location” as they put it. Perhaps it’s my state’s attempt to cut down on corrupt DMV officials handing out licenses to illegals? That would explain our stupid gun purchase laws, which require 2x forms of ID with your address on them. I pretty much have to take my car registration with me into a gunshow or gunshop if I want to buy a so-called “assault weapon,” because my state apparently can’t trust their own IDs anymore. Even a passport is no good.
Second, I found out where ICE needs to go to get all the illegals in one swoop. No fucking joke-I was practically the only American in line. Everyone else was speaking Spanish. The guy in front of me was particularly amusing. His pregnant wife kept coming over with their 1-ish year old girl who was required to wear some kind of foam helmet on her head and had pierced ears with diamond-ish studs. I was struck by the fact these idiots had pierced their baby’s ears. Who does that?
Third, the line was out the door and down the sidewalk in front. There was an overweight black female armed security guard walking up and down the line asking everyone, “Watchu here for?” About every 20 minutes, she would count off about 10 of us and lead us inside, then order us to close up the line and stand up against the wall. It was a long, slow line snaking around the walls of the room. Thanks to the half-ass way everything was organized, the line didn’t actually start at the front door, but by the exit door further down, so every new arrival attempted to just walk in the front door, only to get barked at by the security guard. Thank goodness I brought my phone, which has a great time-burner of a game app on it.
When I finally got to the help desk, which is the gate keeper before you get a # ticket for actual help from the DMV counter, I asked if it was like this every day. The lady told me it was that bad, or worse.
I think I was gone for 2 hours just to fill out paperwork and answer questions from the DMV person, only to find out my ID would be in the mail in a week or two. All I had to show for my wasted time was a sheet of paper that said it was as good as a driver license for a week or two, and a high score on my game. I hate the DMV.
The only thing they’re efficient at is wasting your time and making you mad. The only thing they produce seems to be tedium.
Greetings,
Is this DMV in California? If so, where? If it is then I’m going to shout “ICE! ICE!” the next time I arrive so as to clear the line.
People call dem spoiled brats from Malibu.
Hanging on da beach, with nothing to do.
Mommmy give him BMW, brand new.
Don’t you wish that you could be like them, too!
We don’t got no bowling alleys in dabu.
For 27 miles, scenic view.
We got big coast hwy, runs right thru.
Turn around, before dis happens to you.
My younger daughter lives just outside of Asheville, NC, aka “Berkeley East”. We met in Greenville , SC to watch the 1st Round of the NCAAs, then walked 15-20 mins through downtown around 7PM. After 10 mins or so she said, “WOW! There aren’t any panhandlers or homeless!” She then told me that the mile plus we saunterded to that point that there’d be anywhere from 25-30 bums in Asheville.
There were ZERO in Greenville. And told her, if they were here, they’d be dumped into the Reedy River and be flushed all the way to Columbia, home of The Carolina Chikins.
Perhaps the saame can be done in CA…
lamont: Mrs Ragman and I moved to Western NC about a year and a half ago from South FL. South FL had become a third-world shithole, much like Kali. We go to Boone, NC, Elizabethton and Johnson City to shop. We never see bums, panhandlers or beggars. Believe me, there are plenty of poor people in the Appalachians but we never see anything like this. Different kind of folks, I guess.
Ragman- come visit us in delightful Blowing Rock. Have lived there 30 yrs. no crine only one murder in 125 yrs. plus 25 liquor licenses in a town of 1250 or so. Not a bad place to be
I grew up in Fayettenam, NC. As a kid, there weren’t any panhandlers. There were bums downtown, but nobody went downtown, for fear of their life, unless they wanted a whore or some drugs. Later, I found out the sheriff and the local police had a policy of beating up the bums down by the Cape Fear river. Apparently, it was a well-known policy, because I heard a story once about a bum who was picked up by the ambulance. As the paramedics in the back stabilized the guy, and the driver raced down the road, one of them called out to the driver to ask where they were taking him. The driver said, “Cape Fear!” (one of our two hospitals), upon which the bum (believing he was about to get his ass kicked again) got up and threw himself out the back of the ambulance.
Many years later, I came home from the Army on leave to find bums on every corner with handmade cardboard signs. We had gone through a few changes in administration since the good ol’ days. There’s a rumor going around town that our bums are actually transplants from north and south. According to the rumor, NYC loaded a lot of bums on buses and sent them down to Florida. Then, Florida loaded these new bums on buses to send them back to NYC and we, being roughly halfway, ended up with a lot of new unwanted guests.
I’ve seen a lot of them and it’s surprising how many are young white males who could easily work for a living.
“Were it up to me, I’d switch all the signs that explain how to extract yourself from an undercurrent and replace those signs with easy to understand instructions on how to use a bathroom. ”
It is a cultural difference. Westerners shit differently than Asians. We sit on toilets, they squat over a hole.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_toilet
Their problem is that they haven’t grown up shitting while sitting, so they they prefer to stand on the seat of a western style toilet and shit squatting. If they blast one out it can get very messy.
http://gochina.about.com/od/tripplanning/ht/How2_Squat.htm
Greetings,
Have you ever seen one of those WTF photos whereas there is a car upside down in a tree or a trampoline and, oh, two billy-goats on top of a streetlight or something equally bizarre? Images like that just leave the viewer wondering “how could that possibly happen?” Well, our bathrooms leave the viewer with that same sense of wonderment.
How is it possible to cover a floor in that much pee? How did feces get way up there without being thrown? Did a bobcat play with the toilet paper rolls and put 100% of it shredded on the floor (with the pee)? You just have to wonder.
No one would treat their own bathroom this way.
No one would treat their own back yard the way they trash the beach.
No one would give a homeless family member money so that he or she could go spend it on drugs. (perhaps the drugs make them feel less guilty for sh*tting all over the sidewalks.)
Anon: Blowing Rock is the class of Western NC. Love the place but a parking nightmare! We normally head west to Johnson City. Beautiful drive and cheap gas at Elizabethton on the way back.