[Culturechat] What does Jim Kunstler know?

[Gerald J. Clancy, Jr.]

Barbara,

Good for you. Couldn't agree more. Just got back from a few days of 
vacation and saw your post (and the others).

Most of what I've seen of Mr. Kunstler's writings here is pure 
unadulterated crap. Sorry to sugar-coat it. I love these "the sky is 
falling..." pieces. If Europe is so superior, then why have I always been 
glad to live here after my 25-plus trips there? And I'm a Europhile. Or 
anyone else who's been writing on this list. If not, why aren't you there now?

And apparently the suburbs suck. That's why most of us live there, I guess. 
Who are we kidding here? We like them because there is peace, quiet and 
contentment there, a place where you can have soccer fields on which your 
kids can play, schools that rank much higher than urban ones, streets on 
which you can walk to those schools or fields without risk of being a 
victim of a drive-by. Many of us live in houses that most Europeans would 
kill for. If you want to live in Europe, think small. (That doesn't say 
it's bad.)

Then there is the old, "Why can't we have trains that connect everything 
like Europe?" platitude. We tried that. Didn't work. Remember the 
Pennsylvania line? NY Central, then Penn Central, and hundreds of lines 
like them. We killed most of them and those we didn't kill we merged into 
Amtrak, a huge money loser (that I'm in favor of subsidizing, however). We 
can't even make Amtrak work. Trucks work better in the paradigm we call the 
USA. By the way, ever tried to get high-speed cable in the desert? Or the 
mountains? Same problem as railroads: they go were the people density is.

And when it comes to cars, talk to some Germans about the choking growth on 
the Autobahn system. Rail alone won't do it. Oh, then there is that $1.66 a 
gallon. In Europe think $1.66 a liter!

Finally, we have, "The oil is running out -- invade anyone with oil 
reserves" conjecture. "We went to war in Iraq to take the oil" is presented 
as fact rather than the BS is really is. One can validly debate why we went 
or if we should have gone, but oil is way down on the list of reasons why 
we did. Ironically, if you want to find a country that largely defines its 
foreign policy on access to oil and other economic or political issue that 
have little to do with right and wrong, then look to France and Russia.

Yes, the world is running out of oil. It's not an infinite supply. And, no, 
as I've written before, I'm not happy with our country's lack of commitment 
to renewable and alternate energy supplies but, having said that, our 
economy is market driven and it is the price of oil and the products upon 
which it depends will ultimately drive us [pun intended] to produce these 
alternatives. I am particularly encouraged by the emerging shift to hybrid 
cars which now look like it might stick (certainly, one hopes, longer than 
the Atkins fad). Though hardly an expert on any of this, I look to hydrogen 
supplies as one of the big saviors long-term but this is an infrastructure 
problem more than a scientific one.

Are we becoming a second-rate country? Hell, no. Will a United Europe (I 
always smile at this phrase, as any student of history would) offer more 
competition? Sure. Will it dominate? No way. Take away the defense budget 
which, by the way, has never burdened the European countries for the past 
60 years, and we have an economic engine without equal. France and Germany 
want a mouthpiece? How about shouldering a fairer share of the U.N. budget? 
Peacekeeping efforts, etc.? They only care, frankly, when it's their arse 
on the line. To our great credit as a nation, we've largely been above that.

I remember the '80s when Time and Newsweek were asking in cover stories 
whether the Japanese economic engine would take over the world and render 
us an also-ran. Haven't heard that line lately. And Pebble Beach is for 
sale again, I hear.

There are a great many things I admire about Europeans, a collection of 
great cultures that had the largest hand in producing ours. We're not a 
perfect society by far. And sometimes we let things slide too long before 
we react to a problem. But react we do, better than any society in history, 
and we always get the job done. There's no reason to believe we won't 
continue to do this.

Jerry


At 05:20 PM 12/22/2004, Barbara Roy wrote:
>    Since it's the Christmas season, I thought I could hold off responding 
> to Kunstler's recent: "Thoughts upon returning from Europe," wherein he 
> stereotyped Americans as pathological and pervasively fat, miserable, 
> impoverished, alienated, depressed, demoralized,  conspicuous consuming 
> TV addicts, etc., etc.  I can't wait, however!  My hope is that no one 
> will have time to read ...
>Barbara Crowell Roy
>Sachseln, Switzerland
>December 22, 2004