Whoa, easy there. I would caution against painting with too broad a brush. There are many nice cities in the US and yes, many are quite livable without owning

Whoa, easy there. I would caution against painting with too broad a brush. There are many nice cities in the US and yes, many are quite livable without owning a car. You are correct that the US has a major problem with a polarized and paralyzed political system though. But I think there's reason to be optimistic: smart solutions are also the cheapest. Effective transit, like bus lanes and signal priority, and safe biking infrastructure are phenomenally cheap compared to suburban highway and bridge construction, bordering on free. Housing affordability is, at its core, a zoning problem and we would make huge progress by simply letting people build houses and apartments.