In a message dated 97-12-12 23:06:56 EST, [log in to unmask] writes:
> Let's take the auto issues. Sure it
> looks like them big ole megga malls sterilze the soil and are somehow
> more for the auto than they are for the human...but I travel by car, I
> like my car and I don't want to go somehwere where my car is not
> welcome. There's a whole lot of guys like me out there and we sometimes
> get what we ask for. And that is called democracy.
My averaging 800 miles per week in commuting and work-related driving I am not
inclined to be against either cars or driving. I used to drive a Plymouth
Voyager, and then a Bronco II. A lot of gas consumption for one person to move
their butt around for the purpose of fixing old buildings. After much
consideration and research I went for the higher mpg of a Honda Civic. Yes,
not American. Not as comfortable as a Plymouth Voyager, not as easy to sleep
in, and a pain when it comes to moving the family around. Our other vehicle is
an 83 Dodge PU (the chicken truck) which was purchased second hand from a
clammer, which never goes more than 5 miles from the house - for good reason.
I do think that the current penchant for sport vehicles ie. PU trucks that
have special consideration (lower mpg, higher emmissions) with the original
idea that restrictions would be an imposition on farmers, being purchased in
large quantities by the suburban middle-class to do such things as go to the
mall, is a gross disregard of a planet with limited resources.
I do not believe a Democracy has to by synonymous with irresponsible
consumption of energy. Nor do I believe that Democracy should mean that I or
my family should have to give up clean air to breath - which is a main reason
I live as far away from NYC as possible. There is an incredible amount of
asthma, illness, and associated medical and insurance costs as a result of
poor air quality in our urban areas. Then again, Robert Moses, in designing
the parkways with low-over pass bridges, made it impractical to get from NYC
to Longiuland without a car.
It is not Democracy that I consider to be at issue here, it is environmentally
irresponsible Capitalism that I have the problem with. I have never bought
into the idea that Democracy means that if you have the money and the power
then you also have the divine right to shit on everyone else. It seems to me
that this is where our individual rights meet with social obligations. It is
also the political place where we begin to regulate our environment, including
historic preservation covenants.
In my local community the small-time local developers want to expand the new
mall (I shop there all the time, but still see no need for a Sears & Pep Boys
- we already have two Auto Parts stores within walking distance of each
other), which when built never did fit itself to the congested road system,
and in the expansion they want to demolish a building dating back to the late
18th century. I guess that is Democracy at work?
K-Mart was going to come in and put another mall in the middle of the county
park (where we had the BIG UFO crash), LI's #2 trout stream, the canoe rental
business, and a National Wildlife Refuge. We have empty malls all over the
place... why? The economics is that people put their capital together, build a
mall, and sell it out as quickly as possible, often making out better on tax
loss than direct profit. The fact is, fertile farmland and aquifer is being
removed from our environment as a result of highways, parking lots, and malls.
My experience of Poland was that Poles, for various imposed and conscious
reasons, are more involved in culture and spirit than consumption. They also
seem to be more comfortable with caring for each other in public.
My speech was intended to convey that they have something to teach America
(they seem so convinced that they have nothing of value for America), and that
they should not take the American experience without using their own
judgement. There is no reason that they have to blindly repeat our errors out
of a desire to embrace and imitate the American dream.
As well, a lesson for America, in Poland, is to understand how we can live
full lives with less consumption and more spirit. Do I think this is easy? Not
really. I'm as much at fault for excessive consumption as anyone else. Do I
feel comfortable about it? Not exactly. If the only freedom we feel that we
have is to get in the car and drive around - then I wonder what freedoms we
are not being given an opportunity to feel. I seem to remember someone said we
should have the right to pursue happiness - ok, was it General Motors who told
us happiness is a highway, a new car, and a full tank of gas?
The negative side of Polish/American commerce is the potential that it would
not be the first time that a smaller country embraced what they were being
told to do by American interests and found themselves bankrupt - like Brazil.
Poland needs to find their own center of guidance and their own dream.
][<en Follett
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