Buck Up, Americans, We Have A Lot Of Work To Do - Together Letter Of The Week: From Dec. 29

Winston Churchill claimed Americans could be counted on to do the right thing after exhausting all the alternatives. In the past half century, lured by the deceptive siren song of progress, we’ve used up most of our options.

Once known as problem-solving pioneers, we’re today viewed as whining has-beens who deny the dangers of global warming, forest destruction, ozone depletion, pollution, cropland loss, population growth, deficit spending and social dislocations. We find convenient scapegoats, take easy routes and pretend the party can last forever.

We managed to ruin our big cities, junk our small towns and litter our countryside. In a frenzy of commercialism, we demolished the public realm and banished the spirit of community. The American landscape is a scarred place inhabited by scared people.

Now we’re faced with rebuilding a destructive economy of mindless expansion with one that respects environmental limits and human proportions. We’ll have to cure our perverse fetish for individualism and rediscover the concept of public good. We’ll even have to tell people what they can and can’t do with their land.

We’ll have to reform our political system, scale down our institutions and force multinational corporate renegades to heel. We’ll have to produce less garbage, pollute less and consume less to say no to suburban sprawl and junk-filled megamalls. We’ll have to learn how to live locally and build cohesive communities where people actually work, play and live.

If we can do all these things, maybe we can recreate a nation dedicated to building human environments in which we can rekindle and nurture our lost spirit of community. Russ Moritz Sandpoint

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