Parking Rage

Nothing else so thoroughly defines who we are as a nation than the automobile. Between the insatiable need for oil and rubber it has driven our foreign policy for over a hundred years. It is responsible for the look of the country as one crosses it coast to coast on the Interstate system, and it has dictated the aesthetic of cities, which are uniformly paved over and criss-crossed by ribbons of interconnecting surface streets and speedways. It has given us the most heavily attended spectator sport by far, car racing, a chilling metaphor for the way we challenge injury and death every time we climb behind the wheel. It sets us against each other as adversaries, and it makes us lawbreakers in a dozen small ways every day, racing lights, pushing the speed limit, and making illegal left turns. The size and power of our cars is an expression of our national psyche, our obsession with being the biggest and strongest. Is it any wonder then that collectively we're driving off a cliff?