Idyllic thoughts....but must admit my reaction isn't so positive. Isn't that the very definition of conservatism? To go back to some halycon view of the past? Heck, our founding fathers were all very wealthy land-owners who did their share of dominating others I'm sure. And don't forget that Abbey felt that population growth would ruin the land, so he was very anti-immigration (legal and illegal) to slow down population growth.

But to the point raised - self-reliant clusters of would result in what? A land covered by small city-states? A confederation of communities? How self-reliant could any of these be? Where does one get the iron for the tools?

The U S's industrial/manufacturing might, along with Britain's military expertise were clearly what won WWII for the allies. I suspect if we were a nation of farmers, we'd be speaking German and paying tribute.

Ich meine nicht das Deutsch eine schlechte Sprache ist.

It would take a lot of time for people to recover those skills

Let's remember this country was NOT FOUNDED on capitalistic principles. The Declaration clearly states We the People in order to form a more perfect Union! Clearly a socialist statement.

Unfortunately, other than the artists, most all defected to the republicans