Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The American Dream That Should Die

Poor Denver exurban residents. How can they keep living 60 miles away from work in their homes with 6 car garages. Waaaaaa!!!!!

Seriously, one good thing about the rise in gas prices is the knife in the heart of a core part of the American Dream. Should people even be allowed to live this far from work when they don't have to? Should anyone in the entire world own a 6 car garage?

The potential down side is forcing poor people out of the cities and making them commute to work when they don't have the money. The entire nation could become like Santa Fe in this sense and the economic disparities are disturbing. But this is something that could be dealt with through decent planning and public investment in transportation. But I feel zero sympathy for these exurban people who hate cities and cherish their open space while destroying that space through their lifestyles, crushing habitat and sending wildlife to localized extinction. Such living is a huge burden on taxpayers and local services. These people live on the wildland edge and expect the same hospital, police, and most importantly fire services as any other resident. As they age, ambulances will routinely have 50 + mile drives to bring people to hospitals. They cry for the killing of mountain lions and bears when they eat poor Fluffy. Well, don't put your cat outside when you live in mountain lion habitat!

Seriously, people living like this needed to end yesterday.