Authority Salt

Last evening, we had plans for dinner down at a Mexican fine dining establishment in Wayne, Pa. The event had been planned for a couple of months. Lina and I were having dinner with a man who mentored me as a young man. In fact, he still does, although I ain't so young anymore (Springsteen). He is fairly well known in Libertarian and Conservative circles. I will leave it at that. Our respective schedules tend to require a degree of planning.

My mentor earlier in the day wrote an email advising that we should cancel and reschedule because inclement weather was in the forecast with that deadly three letter word: ICE. Snow does not really rattle me. Ice on the other hand makes me get angina. Yet, I decided to take our chances. Lina and I were the ones driving and traveling down the Pa. Turnpike, so ultimately it was our call. I just didn't want to delay our dinner. Delays can turn into de facto denials. Don't presume upon tomorrow type of thing.

I did presume that Penn-DOTT would be on top of the conditions...that can be a scary presumption in itself.

We had an absolutely divine dinner. Although the food and drink were grande, it was the friendship that ultimately was the soul food. I heartily recommend this place Xilantro. Best. Enchiladas. Ever. The Guac, freshly made, was excellente. On the way back, the storm got a second wind, and a cold one at that. Soon after getting onto the Turnpike at King of Prussia to head home, we got stuck behind two Penn-DOT salt trucks traveling in tandem, side-by-side. It was like being blocked for, as a running back is, with two burly offensive lineman. Cars could not pass the trucks in the two lanes, so it looked like a long journey home.

In the back of my head, I thought, "Hmmm, maybe Penn-DOT knows something about the roads that I do not." I confess I did try a maneuver to pass the trucks by pulling into a Service Plaza lane, past the West Chester exit, and floored it. Another car in front of us got the same idea and almost spun out. The lane was sheer ice. Appropriately humbled and warned, I settled down to a slow parade up the Turnpike. 30 mph for the next 10 or so miles until the Morgantown exit, where the salt trucks pulled into their safe haven.

The salting reminded me of authority. As a driver, I didn't have the right to establish how I was going to drive last night. There was a lot of risk in the road and Penn-DOT did its job to minimize risk for all involved. I was chastened by my brief flirting at skirting the law by my antinomianism on ice. God appoints governmental authority to bear the sword, as well as the salt and the plow. Good government is as salt, creating a safer society for all.