EC writes that we need to be smarter and I agree. But how will a smarter society evolve? What will be the forces that will help determine the shape of the smarter future society? I happen to think that America is the only place where the cauldron of experimental change will show the world what is possible.
Nulan knows that there's something wrong with a middle class which is defined by suburban land use and automobile transportation. I can remember living in Atlanta and hearing something about smarter land use from Al Gore back in the day. Atlanta has extraordinary problems with water and land use - the land is too damned cheap and developers went haywire building a glut of suburban and exurban homes that Northeasterners like myself were gobbling up on the cheap. A big migration to the South and Sun Belt in the 90s helped define what David Brooks accurately named 'Patio Man'. All with polo shirts, cargo pants, sunglasses, brown shoes and SUVs. There were millions of us, well, I didn't wear the polo shirt.
The something wrong is that we Americans fall short of Americanism. Given a chance to improve our lot, we don't. We consume lazily, we learn and read lazily, we raise our kids lazily. We are seduced forward instead of planning smartly forward. We are consumers, basically. But we have so much here, and we could save so much energy, land and money if we would only discipline ourselves and out-think the commercial 'seducation'. (seductive education). It's an American thing to do both.
I agree with Victor Davis Hanson that our liberal arts education is a failure. EC's words are worth repeating as are VDH's:
Hanson: American universities are rated the world’s best only because of our sciences and engineering—and thus despite, not because of, our failed liberal arts curriculum.
Hopkins: My number 1 issue will be significantly improving the quality of U.S. public education. Because if Wright's comments, and nothing else, will make our nation pick Hillary over Barack or McCain over Barack then that will signal to me that our public education system is criminally inadequate, churning out far too many robot-like zombies and far too few responsible citizens capable of thinking independently or well.
America is a liberal society. We are unusually susceptible to social engineering. We have 'lifestyles' because we fundamentally expect to. It is a consequence of both our affluence and our mindsets. I've already categorized the downside. But the upside is, of course, that we will be willing and able to change as the world changes and as our economic and geopolitical situation changes. The entire thrust of liberal politics is to try and get the US government to be on the proactive side of that change. The idea of change is not always necessarily wrongheaded, It just happens that today's liberals want to punish us into a better future through radical policy shifts and taxation. Nevertheless, Americans will change. It's a question of who we think is smart and righteous enough to demand it from us. But that's just the local picture.
The American society is under pressure to change its energy policy and consumption patterns precisely because the people of the developing world want to follow our middle class example. So a fundamental question that needs to be asked is whether a global middle class is achievable and once achieved would it be robustly sustainable? I think the answer is maybe, but if a model develops anywhere, it will be in America precisely because of our liberal society. So there is a fundamental question of what liberty is affordable for Americans and the world. The answer is here.
What is your part of the answer? What kind of Americans have to die so that the future global middle class will live?
I say that it is a given that there is a certain necessary 'seducation' required and that few pluralities of the emerging world will eschew the benefits of first world clothing, eating, health care, education, etc. That is to say that the prospect of the first world standard of living is irresistible. Everything that's wrong with Bling on MTV is the excess to be avoided, and a good dose of basic Protestant work ethic is all that's required. Only America can live like Shaq, and only for a little while longer, but all of us could live like Lance Armstrong indefinitely.
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