In my old age I find myself musing more and more. So what is the American nightmare? It’s the suburbs. I grew up in a middle to upper middle class neighborhood less than 2 miles from downtown Portland. Our neighborhood was a community. We interacted with each other and helped each other as needed. We had community barbecues on the weekends and occasionally took a weekend road trip together. That community was the fabric of society. When I grew up and married my wife and I had a house in the suburbs. Our neighborhood was better than most, we did have some interaction with out neighbors although nothing like the neighborhood I grew up in. In the modern suburb you can go days or even weeks without seeing your neighbors. You use the garage door opener, close the garage door behind you and isolate yourself in your house. You are miles from the nearest grocery store. You are effectively isolated from society. I see this as part of what is responsible for many of this country’s ills. When we lose a sense of community we lose the thing that holds society together. We are genetically tribal creatures and when we lose that sense of of community we lose who we are.