Those counties were locked into crawl gear and some actually were in reverse, losing the few jobs they had. In those places, emotional speeches about the dangers of sprawl would have fallen upon deaf ears. During that time, I also traveled to Houston where sprawl was in overdrive. The contrast between crawl and sprawl left a powerful impression in my mind. I came away with a conviction there had to be more alternatives than sprawl and crawl.
Government is neither good nor bad.
It's entirely neutral, waiting at all times to be shaped by our ideas and energy. We really have unlimited alternatives to sprawl and crawl if we use our magnificent democratic society that is so amenable to individual input and responsive to organized groups with a community vision. Where the interests of individuals and groups collide, we have the political structure to allow free and open debate so all options can be presented, explored and refined into the pure gold of a healthy, happy and prosperous community.