Me, offended? On the contrary, David. You felt something and that tells me I hit my mark. That you felt depressed tells me you grasped the seriousness of the subject and that exceeded my hopes. That you know two people who knew California liberalism was a joke, speaks well of the company you keep.
In my mind, Urban Americans are liberals and Rural Americans are progressives. The difference between these groups is gigantic. For example, when it comes to land, soil, food, forests, water, and natural resources, the urban-liberal led “Sierra Club” set progress on environmental, food and labour systems in rural America back a hundred years – or more. Inasmuch as rural Americans grow our nation’s food and manages our water, they set the whole nation back as well. California’s wildfires, homelessness and income disparity are just three of the results.
The environmental and cultural damage the Sierra Club did was so bad, rural progressives and activists had to stay as far away from them as possible. In response, the Sierra Club declared war on rural progressives. The Nature Conservancy, however, is an awesome partner in rural America, but they suffer resentment and backstabbing from what the Sierra Club considers competition for “their territory”. Oops, I’m venting. I’ll stop.
Americans don’t need to starve or go on cornmeal mush and gruel diets before we start making that a reality.
IF urban liberals start talking to rural progressives, I think the future is rather bright. Having worked on land-use in cities as well as rural landscapes, I’m convinced that cities have a huge role to play in developing a secure food system.
For many years, Mark Arax, an investigative reporter, covered the central valley for the LA Times, and his work and writing is beyond compare. But food is a national problem, not a California one. If Americans continue leaving food production to California, they are dooming themselves to mush.
After Covid, people were upset when supply chain problems jacked up lumber prices for their DIY home projects. Wait until Americans wake up to discover they depend on foreign countries for their food. And that is exactly where we are currently headed.
If that so-called civil war does break out, the people who survive will have hoarded seeds, not guns and ammunition.
I felt the need to lay some groundwork and have more to do. But thanks to you, I’ll start writing about alternatives as well. Baby steps, right?
As always, your encouragement means a lot to me – and I thank you.
PS, my youngest climbed before she crawled and walked.
