Posted on 06/26/2023 7:43:09 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Around 90 A.D., the Roman historian Tacitus traveled through Germania observing the lives of its inhabitants. It was quite an eye-opening journey for him. Among his many observations, he noted how the Germanic people chose to live in small separate dwellings, separate from even extended family. Often these dwellings would house just a mother, father, and their children. That seems normal to us today, but it certainly wasn’t to Tacitus and the Romans, or much of the civilized world at that time.
Authors Michael Lotus and James Bennett wrote of this in their groundbreaking book “America 3.0: Rebooting American Prosperity in the 21st Century Why America’s Greatest Days Are Yet to Come.” The Germanic tribes would take this radical cultural trait with them, when in the 5th Century A.D. they would conquer Britannia. In fact, the German tribe of Angles would give England its future name. While this cultural trait would not remain as powerful in Germania or in much of Europe, it would further migrate, most notably to America, Canada, and Australia. The idea of owning a single-family home is not unknown to the world, of course, but it planted its deepest cultural seeds here in the United States. The epitome of the American Dream is to own one’s home – a home is a man’s castle.
Why the history lesson? Because the yearning to own one’s own home is under threat and the ability to buy and own a piece of land in America is under intense attack from the Left. But then what isn’t under attack from the Left. Our communities, families, churches, every aspect of middle-class lifestyle is seen as an obstacle to the Left’s utopian dream of a new society, a roadblock in the efforts to radically transform society.
The Left is now pushing policies that promote a “densification” of living. These new “smart cities” include dense living in small, cramped dwellings in cities where the need and use of a car are eliminated. The question of what people may want becomes irrelevant. That some younger people choose to live in dense living arrangements in cities is often true. But most younger people, when they marry and have families, choose to live outside of dense cities; they vote with their feet and choose to live in suburbs.
The war on home ownership, the suburbs, and efforts to force people into dense living arrangements is not new. For years, Stanley Kurtz has written about the Left’s attack on the suburbs, as have demographers such as Wendall Cox and Joel Kotkin. Kurtz’s book “Spreading the Wealth: How Obama is Robbing the Suburbs to Pay for the Cities” detailed the war on the suburbs that Barack Obama had undertaken almost immediately after being elected President. The war on the suburbs was just a part of his radical transformation of America.
The Left is attacking middle class life across the world, but we see the war on single family homes and on the suburbs happening most directly in America and across the Anglosphere. The reasons for this middle class life lies in our uniqueness in choosing this form of living. But it’s all about culture, and not about being “Anglo”. Immigrants to America eagerly fold into this lifestyle choice. I live in a suburban community 25 miles outside of Los Angeles where, while non-Hispanic whites constitute the largest group (45%), they are not a majority. There are large minorities of Hispanics and Asians, many of them first generation immigrants. They all opt to share in the American Dream of home ownership. And before this becomes a racial conversation, which today is where the Left takes everything, let’s be clear: this has nothing to do with “white flight.”...
For the last three years I’ve been working from home, as have many others.
Even before that, the places I’ve worked at were mostly in suburban office parks. Businesses realized decades ago that they could save a lot of money by setting up in the suburbs, where most of their workers lived anyway.
The trend started with the creation of the interstate highway system back in the 1950s. Cities were doomed at that point.
It’s getting old (as am I). I used to do at one time now I’m doing 2 days.
The problem with my lawn is that it is too bumpy. Even if I bought a zero turn I am not sure I could increase my speed without breaking something(like my back).
There were so many boulders that were removed that the whole thing needs to be regraded and york raked. Where the boulders were they have been filled in but have now settled after a few years. Also, more rocks seem to be coming to the surface that were formerly buried.
Can you pull a garden cart with a zero turn?
I use that all the time instead of a wheel barrow. Unless it is a place I can take the Massey cab tractor into. It weighs 4000lbs and has industrial tires. So, I have to be real careful if I drive it on the lawn. Also, make sure it is not in 4WD.
Yes, but I use the tractor or the Honda ATV typically for that depending on where the load is going. The o turn tires have zero grip and little pulling capability on rough terrain. You're right, bumps would be annoying.
I mow 5 acres. I have used a Kubota 40hp tractor w/ 7’ finish mower, an ExMark gas 72” zero turn (came w property) and a Kubota diesel 72” zero turn.
Out of those, The Kubota zero turn diesel is far and away the best and fastest. Tractor rides nice and uses little diesel, but it eats so much time maneuvering w the mower on 3-point hitch and I have to trim afterward. The ExMark had. KOHLER V-Twin gasser used 5 gallons of gas each time I mowed. The Kubota zero turn can mow three times on 5 gallons of diesel and no trimming. The model is ZD1211. ~30hp, 3 cylinder, naturally aspirated diesel. No emissions equipment or additives. Just muffler.
I know what you mean about mowing with a 72” three point finish mower. A lot of wide turns.
However, when its 90 degrees and humid, it is sure nice to have AIR CONDITIONING and an nice suspension seat in my cab tractor. Plus I can listen to the radio which also has Blue tooth.
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