Beyond the Horizon

Politically speaking, I am of the Blue persuasion, so it is not surprising that while visiting my son in Hawaii – the bluest of Blue states – I felt right at home.

And just how Blue is Hawaii? Well;

90% of its State legislators are Democrats.

The governor is a Democrat.

All of Hawaii’s representatives to the House and Senate in Washington are Democrats.

As if all that was not enough, the President of the United States is a native born Hawaiian who is also a Democrat.

Hawaii is a Blue World and revels in it.

From my point of view, that’s extremely refreshing. Over the Christmas holiday, the President’s picture was in all the local newspapers. There he was with that big grin, posing for pictures and shaking hands with people who clearly respected and admired him.

Obama is a major source of pride on the Islands, but there are smaller things you see and hear about how a Blue state feels as you travel the highways and byways, shop in the stores, chat with neighbors, or share food with strangers.

But wait: With so much blue in the culture, wouldn’t you expect evidence of intrusive government? How about regulations strangling businesses? On the assumption that nothing is perfect in this life, I was on the lookout for just such things. Lo and behold, one day, my son and I found a blatant nanny-government indicator when we were walking in a tree-lined public park.

We came across a printed sign close to the path we were on, and it said:

“Beware of falling coconuts.”

Unlike an irritating “No Parking” sign, the coconut warning was in the life-or-death category, so I gave it a pass on the intrusiveness test. I didn’t want to get conked on the head before we could finish our great mother-son conversation, so Jim (my son) and I just went in a different direction and continued our happy talk walk. And we’re both still great fans of Hawaii, intrusiveness notwithstanding.