- Prosperity eroded trust in our neighbors (because we needed them less)
- Hitchhiking is a paradox to The Protestant Work Ethic: Youth feel entitled to a ride but need the charity of the driver to accomplish their work
- Cars used to be concentrated among farmers
- Hitchhiking becomes more acceptable with economic downturns
- Hitchhikers put effort into distinguishing themselves from vagrants
- Hippies embraced hitchhiking as a physical version of mind-altering drugs… Letting go and, literally, losing control
- Adjusting hitchhiking enforcement was a way to throttle the flow of hippies and liberal youth movements
- Reagan era politics shifted us from communal to personal
- As youth matured and gained wealth, they started to shun hitchhiking as a “poor person” thing
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