suburban suicide

Just read an excellent post by Jim Kunstler where he decries the oil-driven madness of North American Society. He begins in Calgary where...

We interrupt this post to bring you a Special Bulletin: Once again the BushCorp has placed itself in the God position of determining Right and Wrong. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have released a statement declaring the intention to use nuclear capability in a pre-emptive strike if such a course is declared necessary. Thus has the GOP has moved from the position of simply being a bunch of bullying Imperialists, to that of being a World Terrorist Organization.
Think that's too strong? How else would you describe a country that says, "you do what we tell you, or we'll rain atomic death down upon you"? For a long time one of the deterents to fledgling atomic nations was the knowledge that should they be dumb enough to use the Bomb on America, we had more than enough capability to turn their nation into a shiny, smoking bowl of glass featuring a lovely lava fountain in the center. But only if we were attacked. But who has the capability to do that to us, should we be the aggressor?
In America, we have this little doctrine that says that a person is innocent until proven guilty, but the GOP doesnt seem to get this, except in the case of their own top-rank, where the attitude seems to be more innocent-because-I-say-so (Tom DeLay, anyone).

This isnt coming out very coherently. Lemme just say this: This aggressive stance, this attitude that we are allowed to thoroughly kick the ass of anyone we want to, whether they have done anything to us or not, is very wrong, and very disturbing. But the declaration of the intent to use atomic weapons in anything more than the most extreme instance of self-defence indicates a deep moral depravity, a Sink of Evil on a biblical level, residing in our national leadership.

We now return to our regularly scheduled post.

... can only conclude that he's right. It reminds me of a story by somebody, where all the suburbs of the cities - the gigantic houses, the huge sprawling neighborhoods, the oversized automobiles - had been taken over by the poor, because the wealthy had fled to the inner city, to live in huge arcologies where their energy usage was minimal, and their comfort level was high. As much as I hate the sound of that, it's probably what we need to do. Part of responsibility, of being a grown up, is doing things you dont want to do because it's right. Changing our suburban lifestyle wont be pleasant, but it will be right, and it will help make a stronger, more community-minded America.

props to kung fu monkey via Dave in Australia.