That's my point though, the US travel system didn't just become structured this way arbitrarily, it was a conscious decision to design our infrastructure in a w

That's my point though, the US travel system didn't just become structured this way arbitrarily, it was a conscious decision to design our infrastructure in a way that was hostile to anything other than cars (pedestrians, bicycles, even horse-powered transportation). Cars were the way to the future, or so they thought. Now, we have a hundred years of data and experience with the automobile, and it's become obvious that the fossil fuel powered car isn't a good long-term solution to the urban and suburban transportation problem. Literally everything about them is bad for the world, gathering and burning the fuel, the destruction required for their roads, the massive amount of space needed to store them, and the death and destruction they cause daily. Electric (and other alternative fuel) cars are less bad, but only in one small way, they address a single issue in an inherently flawed model. You say that Europe has an advantage because it's cities are much older, but it's important to understand that the Netherlands and Denmark were both on the same auto-centric trajectory that the US was on coming out of the World Wars and industrialization. Denmark only started rebuilding their cycling infrastructure after decades of disuse when the energy crisis in the 70s made using a car extremely expensive. In both countries, people realized just how bad cars were. The deaths of cyclists (especially children) sparked mass protests where people demanded cycling infrastructure, and they got it. They were able to convert a car-focused city (perhaps less so than Los Angeles or New York, but still) into a bike focused city. They were able to do it, why can't we?