Holy Subdivision!

Posted by Jan Frel at 12:00 AM on May 19, 2006.

There was a very interesting point raised in a Campus Progess interview conducted by Ben Adler with James Howard Kunstler (which Wiretap reprinted):

Adler: There have been studies that show the exurbs (far-flung suburbs), where mega-churches often serve as the main source of community, are trending very conservative politically. Do you see any connection between the rise in Christianist Fundamentalism and suburbanization?

Kunstler: I do think that the preoccupation with evangelical religion has, to some degree, been a substitute for the destruction of public life in general, which has followed the destruction of public space. And the thing that's ironic and sort of paradoxical about it is that the whole Christian Fundamentalist sector employs the methods of big box chain retail in order to do their thing...."

A corollary point to the rise of fundamentalism was raised in an inverview I did with former GOP strategist Kevin Phillips:

Frel: You say that the resurgence and religious fervor of the Pentecostals, fundamentalists and so on wouldn't be so extreme if they hadn't been kicked out of the public square in the in 1960s.

Phillips: I think that liberals in the '60s and '70s vastly underestimated the importance of religion to the average American. We've always been a religious country -- our bible sales have been just huge, historically. And the notion that there was a new secular era coming in which we could overlook that was a great mistake. There were attempts to get prayer out of the schools completely, take the Ten Commandments off the walls of buildings and so on. All of this mobilized millions of Americans to take up the cudgels for these religious issues."

A question emerges from these two points -- does the massive suburban Christian fundamentalist population exist because it was "kicked out" of the public square (literally) from American cities starting in the '60s? Is there a pattern of high-density secular urban residents who stayed?

Does ideolopolis theorist and Democratic poll analyst Ruy Teixeira have anything to say on this point?

Rolling off of those tracks, there was one other interesting point from the Kunstler interview:

Adler: For young progressives who want to slow the rate of global warming and want to strengthen American communities following the principles of new urbanism, it seems like such a colossal problem to tackle. What can our readers do on the local and national level to change this pattern of development?

Kunstler: ...We have a railroad system in America that the Bolivians would be ashamed of. There isn't one thing we could do in this country that would have a greater impact on our oil use than restoring the American rail system to something like a European level of service. It's something that we know how to do, the infrastructure is laying out there waiting to be fixed and re-used, and the Democrats are not even talking about it -- and I'm a registered Democrat -- and it ticks me off. I would like to see the politically progressive kids out there start militating to restore the American railroad system. The fact that we're not even talking about that shows me how un-serious we are."

I grew up in a L.A. suburb, and when I looked at this 1906 map of Los Angeles' commuter train system, I suppose it's fair to say I felt pretty damn militant. If someone asked me if I'd mind paying a one-cent sales tax to make trains suddenly appear all over San Francisco (where I live) or whatever other town I lived in, I'd have to say yes (I mean YES! OR ELSE). People in cities across America seem to have no difficulty paying sales taxes for stadiums.

Jan Frel is an AlterNet staff writer.