Dateline Whidby Island Washington and Strait of Georgia.
WE are visiting Whidby Island Washington for maybe the fortieth time in our lives. I first flew into The Naval Air Station on Whidby Island in 1979, landing at midnight. I was met by my father-in-law Captain Jerry Thummel who had commanded a P-3 Orion squadron on the island. We flew in on a Military Airlift Command (MAC) flight directly from Norfolk Virginia. There were two crews (8 pilots and co-pilots) on board and two “flight masters”. WE bought 8 boxes of pizzas in Virginia Beach and played one wall handball on the stretch 737 for 5 hours across the country. When I got off the plane and met my future father-in-law for the first time, my Navy summer whites were drenched in sweat and stained with tomato sauce. I have sailed out of Anacortes maybe fifty times and traveled across the Strait Of Alaska as a First Mate on the 150 ft Long Line Processor ALASKA LEADER, leaving Whidby Island “to port” on our five-day trip. Our quest this time is to try to find at least one Republican who may be left on the island. If we could find and identify a “mating pair” of Republicans, that would give us great hope.
Republicans are very rare in Western Washington for many reasons. It seems that through the process of NATURAL SELECTION beta males are hooking up with alpha females at an ever-increasing rate and either the choose, or don’t know how to have children! Unfortunately, alpha females also seem to be hooking up with each other, and the true alpha male has to go to other environs to satisfy his procreative destiny. This isn’t as true as much on the Northern end of the Island where the Navy Base is located. Real men and real women fly real jets that are maintained by alpha men and alpha and beta women. There is a Marine Corps attachment on the base. On Fidalgo Island just across Deception Pass from Whidby is Anacortes. Anacortes is a real man’s town—dry docks, commercial fishing and lumbering are the big trades. Republicans flock to Fidalgo, but even here some progressive inroads are being made. At Hometown Pizza where Lynn and I have dined for forty years, they now have a “Mediterranean Pizza”, and they serve garlic balls dipped in pesto sauce. At the Calico Kitchen they serve Quiche all three meals! The times are changing.
On South Whidby in towns like Clinton and Freeland people arise after 9AM except for those that work harvesting Penn cove oysters and mussels.. The selection of spirits is limited at restaurants, but you can find wine from the over twelve orchard-vineyards on the island. They don’t even know what Bullet Rye is or how to make an OLD FASHION.
We plan on going to Catholic Mass on the Island but as we look up the services at the 4 churches, we note that there are only 3 priest to serve the entire two islands, almost 36-mile length. There is only one Catholic Priest on the Base, but there is a Buddhist Priest, and some other faith is represented that I haven’t even heard of.
There are three hospitals on the island—including on the base. At all three the birth rate has dropped to 1.6/ couple. I guess when many of the couples share the same sex chromosomes birth rates are bound to go down. Little League baseball enrollment is down, and summer camps enrollment for soccer and yoga is up.
The Washington State Legislature is cracking down on guns. All guns carried in a car or motor home or a commercial truck in Washington State must be registered in Washington State! Permits—concealed weapons and tactical permits from other states aren’t honored. The fine for non-compliance if caught—$25000/ weapon. Seems like a fact that might inform the calculous of a criminal in a city, in a campground or on a boat.
The best way to find a Republican in Washington State is to “chum” for them. I walk the beaches with my Red MAGA hat and see if I draw anyone in. My wife follows 30 yards behind with a first aid kit in her beach bag. The response I get is very much like the response I receive when golfers pass by my home at Plantation who are supporting the California developer who is going to put up 720 single family homes on 22.5 acres of golf course.
The sociology found in both Garden City Idaho and on Whidby Island is very similar. I guess human nature doesn’t change much across the ages or from one location or another. The progressive socialist city fathers that make up the City Governments in all locations pass laws to keep developers out of their own neighborhoods, but if they can increase the tax base for their cities by developing a constituent’s neighborhood far away from where they and their families live, that is OK.
There is seriously one very important similarity between liberal Whidby Islan and liberal Garden City Idaho. Church attendance is down in both places. By down, I mean even less than the national average. I would like to see a study that compares church attendance to birth rate. I think the two go hand in hand. Christian conservatives have a positive outlook on life. They are optimistic about their future because they know “the end of the story” for all of us.
Progressive liberals are more gnostic and narcissistic. They look to themselves and create their own moral standards outside of themselves. The holes in their hearts that Christians are always trying to fill with the Holy Spirit, they try to fill with money, alcohol, drugs and sex. I know, I used to be a liberal, and even when I became a conservative I always for a short time during the transition, tried to date liberal gals!
Tomorrow is another day and my search will continue. Come to think of it I have the perfect conservative sitting right in front of me. Miss Lynn. I will stop my search for the rare Whidby Island Republican mating pair. No matter where I live or vacation, as long as we have each other, the American Dream will be right in front of me.
Thanks Lynn. The last year was tough but knowing we will always have each other makes it all worthwhile.
