Citizen Consumer

Watching the evening news the other day, I was amazed at how many times we were referred to as consumers.

We are nothing but.

We are no longer citizens. No longer organized for any purpose other than to consume and to mature private enterprise. And the nature of that private enterprise, over the last thirty years, has resulted in the wholesale destruction of community.

In this regard, Loveland, CO and Elk Grove, CA are not all that different. Both cities were developed in the late 19th century more or less as stops on major transportation routes. Both probably looked very similar in the early part of last century -- small, close knit populations, a dense town core, vibrant activity, walkable districts. Agriculture was dominant in all directions out from the center. They had true rural and urban demarcations.

We then decided, just a few decades back, that economies of scale were more important. We wanted the ownership and use of produced goods but we didn't want to pay American wages to make them. We soon determined that the regional glass factory (that made durable, long lasting products, by the way) couldn't compete with the quantities coming from overseas glass manufacturers who had less environmental oversight and a seemingly infinite supply of low wage workers. From glass to toasters, to ball bearings, sour cherries, hair dryers, food processing equipment and textiles -- all have been shipped out. We happily, cheerfully, and gleefully threw parades for the opening of the new K-mart on the fringes of the existing city. After all, these outlets concentrated these foreign manufactured goods into one stop shopping emporiums...and the prices! Man! So much better than the Podunk retail outlet back in the city center.

Nevermind the fact that an American made toaster would last twenty five years if cared for, compared to four or five with a cheap Chinese made piece of shit...but no matter. The price we pay now is the price that counts, period. No matter if we have to buy 4 over those twenty five years...with blinkers on Americans don't care anymore about the future -- only now.

Yep. We opened the K-mart on the edge of town, the first wave of large format retail. This has only been expanded with WalMart, Target, Old Navy, Bed Bath & Beyond, et al. Their ability to buy thirty seven thousand cheaply made toasters at a crack from a factory in Shenzhen, and that all of us only give a shit about cheaply priced goods, well, that's where we went. The Loveland and Elk Grove town centers turned into decrepit wastelands.

City council members then sat and tried to figure out how to "revitalize" their historic districts, after already having approved the widening of Elk Grove Boulevard into a four lane, cross town expressway that utterly destroyed the character of the original city. Loveland threw money to prop up local businesses in the core, now competing with all the big box shit they approved along the 34 towards I-25.

Today, one walks through Old Towne Elk Grove while dodging tens of thousands of thru-commuters. The city core has been completely destroyed. New setback codes require any new businesses to locate on a half acre lot with a frontal moat of parking, and now things are so spread out that everyone is forced to travel by automobile to buy a pack of cigarettes or get a spare key made. Sheldon High School was placed at the edge of town on a two lane rural road where no one in their right fucking mind would allow their kids to walk or ride with no sidewalks or bike lanes. The road has since been "upgraded." It's now a four lane expressway.

We built to encourage consumption, not citizenship.

We are citizen consumers.