America the Beautiful was written in 1893, a time rarely matched in human history (and even US history) for the freedom granted to citizens. Envy raised its ugly head three years later with William Jennings Bryan and has dimmed the alabaster cities since. Get rid of the envy, and they will gleam again.

Being married to huge metropolitan centers has been a problem since WW II. They are infested garbage heaps of crime, ignorance, and squalor, enabling pandemics to spread like wildfire.

Societies evolve as technologies create change. With near instantaneous transmission of information, automated operations of equipment, and increasingly capable artificially intelligent systems, there's no need to huddle in a great mass. We need to recognize we no longer need to be able to commute to great mountains of steel, glass, and concrete to make a living.

Companies should also spread out. Smaller centers of excellence in lower cost areas can reduce overhead. People will have the choice to find a home they can afford, and rent control will become a thing of the past.

Mass transportation systems will be dedicated to moving goods and not people, and will eventually become completely automated. A more widely dispersed society will be a friendlier society, with travel done for pleasure, rather than as a necessity.

In order for the cities to gleam again, they're going to have to be deep-cleaned from all the blood and garbage currently infesting many of them.

Nice message Doc...thanks.

I look at all of these urban shitholes and I wonder.......why??? I am currently in a Georgia town about 25 miles south of Atlanta. I feel that I would need the 82nd Airborne to escort me if I had to go into the city. The 101st would do just fine also. A helicopter would be required for quick escape.
Anybody seen the old movie Escape from New York??

I believe events perpetrated the Neo-Bolsheviks (BLM, Antifa, BSanderites, & Anarchists) will create hell in America by November. Burning cities & election disruption seems to be in the offing.