The author and his fans couldn't be more wrong. Since we live off HWY 98 in sprawl like most Americans a car is a neccessity. But I think we will see a flight back into urban areas over time as generation Y or whatever they're calling us these days realizes how isolated one can become from other people in a box of steel going from suburb to work 2 hours a day in traffic. It's nice being able to walk to the neighborhood cafe, the bookstore, the pub, etc. It reinforces a sense of community.
Just look at how aggressive and angry people (especially on 98) drive. There is no way they would act that way if they were simply walking down the street, because there would probably be reprecussions- there is social pressure to be polite. It is easy to become disconnected from the humanity of others sitting in your SUV listening to talk radio.
In most of our communities walking somewhere is out of the question so we spend a ton of time on our *ss in a car. When you can walk to work or school or the bookstore, you're getting exercise that a lot of people in areas like this will miss out on. Most of the guys lamenting the good old days are really just complaining that the marketing slogans of the past that had so much impact on them no longer hold water for the young whipper snappers.
And yet, it's not that no one is interested in cars, it's just hard to sell them with promises of freedom and independence when people see the reality of being stuck in traffic in a 2 hour commute. Suddenly that car is a prison. Suddenly freedom from a car sounds pretty good to a lot of people, me included.
