Slate's Bizbox
dialogues: E-mail debates of newsworthy topics.

The War on Cars

dialogues
entries
123456
from: James Q. Wilson
to: James Howard Kunstler

Posted Thursday, Jan. 29, 1998, at 3:30 AM ET

I will understand your argument about cars better when I understand what evidence--not numbers, perhaps, but at least a systematic body of facts--you have to support your statement that America has become "a national automobile slum" in which our public life has been "degraded." Which places--you mention "thousands"--now exist that "are not worth caring about"?
I agree with you that numbers don't capture the car. To me its great advantages are privacy, convenience, mobility, and carrying capacity. I think the overwhelming majority of car users agree that these are its advantages; that is why they buy and drive them.
From what public testimony or personal experience do you derive your conclusion that a "car-centered living dystopia" afflicts us? It doesn't afflict me, or anybody I know. Does it afflict you?
I agree that cities are important to civilization. But unlike you, I am struck by how many people live in or otherwise enjoy cities. A few have become empty social holes, but the cities I know best--Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Boston, San Diego, Washington, among others--are not that at all. In fact, the greater use of cars has, in a way, revitalized these places. The reason? Once people can and do leave cities, cities must reconstitute themselves to lure people back. That is what many cities have done. Suburbs have grown as well, supported by cars. Now people have a choice--they can live in cities or on the outskirts of cities. The freedom they have thereby acquired strikes me as more valuable than whatever policies you would support that would induce (lure? compel?) people to live in cities.

dialogues
entries
123456
from: James Q. Wilson
to: James Howard Kunstler

Posted Thursday, Jan. 29, 1998, at 3:30 AM ET
Print This ArticlePRINTDiscuss this in The FrayDISCUSSEmail to a FriendE-MAIL
Share on FacebookPost to MySpace!Share with MixxDigg ThisShare with RedditShare with del.icio.usShare with FurlShare with Ma.gnolia.comShare with SphereShare with Stumble Upon
James Q. Wilson is professor emeritus of management and public policy at UCLA. James Howard Kunstler is author of Home From Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century. To purchase Home From Nowhere from Amazon.com, click here.
Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum
What did you think of this article?
POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES
Washington Post
The Washington Post
OPINIONS
Over the Line
Harold Ford Jr. | I know what it's like to be smeared by your opponent.
: The Positive in Negative Ads
PLUS » Milbank: The President's Lullaby