• Smug cities (e.g., Austin, New York, and San Francisco — “We’re so cool.”)
• SUVs (“We’re more important than you; get out of our way.”)
• Tailgaters (usually SUVs)
• Tailgaters with their brights on
• Canned music
• Contemporary jazz — canned or live — in a restaurant
• The demise of dress codes in most expensive restaurants
• Squealing babies and noisy children in any restaurant that doesn’t have drive-through service
• Baggy clothing, skimpy clothing, and piercings
• Conversational filler: like, you know
• Driving while talking on a cell phone
• Talking on a cell phone in the presence of a captive audience (e.g., in a waiting room, airport lounge, or airplane)
• Playing a car stereo so loudly that it can be heard in the next car, if not a block away
• Failing to say “thank you” when someone holds a door open for you
• TVs that are always on
• Most of what’s on TV
• Most of what’s on radio
• Most of what’s in movies
• Most of what’s called music
• Most of the 20th century and all of the 21st century thus far
Politics and Prosperity 