Society of Self-Indulging Slugs

In his review of David Owen's "Green Metropolis: What the City Can Teach the Country About True Sustainability" Jonathan Yardley explains why the Greatest Generation is in no danger of being supplanted by any of us who came afterward:

on both sides of the political aisle there is virtually nothing except pandering to our love of cars and placating the various industries and special interests that profit from them, which means just about every industry and special interest in the country. Six decades ago, as the United States headed into World War II, Americans had been steeled by the Depression and were prepared for the sacrifices the war demanded. Now, by contrast, they have been made complacent and selfish by a half century of self-indulgence at an unprecedented level of extravagance. There is no reason to believe they are ready to change the way they live, even as the world grows ever closer to the day when the oil binge ends.