Hyperindividualism and car culture explains it all. Americans don’t trust each other (especially not their neighbors) and want to put as much distance between themselves as possible. We’re also mostly NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard) and have very strict zoning laws that prevent commercial and residential buildings from coexisting in the same area. This is great for the auto industry because it means you can’t do anything without driving, and they lobby the government to block any attempt to change things.

Our suburbs are liminal spaces that more closely resemble purgatory than actual communities, which is why everyone who grew up in them is at least slightly insane.

This is a small town. We don’t call them villages, we call them towns for some reason.

The word village implies community, and we don’t do that kinda thing in the states.

Take this quiz and see if you can tell the difference between Nazism and Zionism. I bet you can’t.

I would fund community-led projects that align with my values such as:

• mutual aid collectives
• community-run gardens, libraries, and clinics
• labor and tenant unions / cooperatives
• intentional communities
• food pantries / soup kitchens
• parks and other 3rd spaces
• art collectives
• sustainability initiatives (rooftop solar, heat pumps, microgrids, rewilding, permaculture / indigenous farming practices, etc.)
• public multimodal transportation infrastructure

My focus would be on empowering people to help each other even after the money runs out.