Originally posted by: chasespncr
^ kinda funny how you talk about walking around the mountains as a child and loving it but now all there is to do is to go on a hike....people being rude and judgemental is just natural...and about the "low class"..they get free health care and free government money..they suck all the money out of the system and sell the drugs to the population..quote>
Chasespncr, let's go through this step-by-step.
1) You missed the point of the poster you quoted. As much as you like pizza, do you want to eat only pizza every night? Suburbia, in its tendency to homogenize a population and predispose them towards material consumption over any other form of recreation, manages to smash the attractions and ways-of-life that make any individual place distinctive for its residents.
2) Yes, to some extent, everyone is rude or judgmental. However, suburbia tends to isolate individuals and families, exasperating these traits.
Is anything we discuss absolute? Absolutely not! No one is saying that suburbia makes everyone the same or that everyone only consumes. However, there may be a definite tendency.
3) I won't address your very last point as it is just incredibly ridiculous. Let's go instead to the point before. You speak so angrily of people who use the system to get services. Did you ever consider that maybe other people don't like being in a situation where they have to be given services either? Or do you want someone to give YOU services without working? Not very American of you I must say.
You might reasonably ask, what is my compentency to speak on this subject. As a family among the top 2% of income earners, we have a definite economic incentive to support low-tax, low service policies. In fact, the amount of property tax we pay pays for the education of the equivalent of at least 4 other studentswho are not paying their share. I don't say any of this to thump my chest. I am establishing that from a purely personal economic point of view, I have no reason to support welfare. However, we recognize that we, as Americans, and Indian immigrants at that, that we have a responsiblity towards the country and towards the poor. In our business, we rent apartments to generally low-income individuals. I have seen the gambit of people, from those who do truly suck the system, to those who work 90 hours a week at multiple jobs to support themselves. Beat that, chasespncr, before you comment on how low income individuals suck the system.
In an ideal world, we do not need welfare. However, that is only possible when we have given everyone equal opportunities. Have we given everyone equal opportunities?
Let me ask this. In this country, we fund education not through federal funding but through a combination of state grants and the main source, property taxes. Most city income comes from property taxes. Here's the fundamental problem, though. As density increases, the amount of income from property taxes becomes less proportionately to population. Thus, poorer education. How can we have equal opportunities without equal education?
Even more of a problem than suburbia/urbania is basic weakness in the American education systems. It is scary to see how few people understand how the economic system, political system, and international relations work, and these subjects are supposed to be America's strong suits (we'll totally leave out how woefully inadequate we are as a country at math and science). If people don't understand economics, of course they will say bailouts are a bad thing. They will always rail against government intervention,seeing it slow the growth of the country without seeing that it reduces the depth of recessions that result from uncontrolled business practices during growth periods. Returning to suburbia, they will always see the pristine, prefab suburban world around them and love it without considering the implications that aren't obvious to the naked eye.
