The difference is that one costs a minimum of $30k, while the other can be had for less than $1k.

That’s true, yet I still think many people will opt to spend the additional money for a car. They’re covered and climate controlled, and they offer more passenger and cargo capacity. In the Netherlands, which you mentioned as an example of a country with high e-bike adoption, there are still millions of cars. I’m sure there are fewer cars than there otherwise would have been, but cars are still very much in the transportation mix. Not a bad thing, necessarily. I definitely think it has reduced car dependency - cars are no longer as much of a necessity - but cars are not eliminated.

I used to do something like what you’re describing. I would drive my car to a light rail station then take the train into the city to work. I suppose what you’re talking about is just replacing the car with an e-bike. That’s fine, but I don’t see a huge difference in this scenario between an e-bike and an electric car, especially since I wasn’t just driving to the light rail station, I was also driving to the grocery store and to restaurants and to the houses of friends and family, etc.

Now, if I had lived in the city nearer to my work, and to stores, and restaurants, and shops, etc, an e-bike would have made a lot more sense.

Many millions of Americans spend at least an hour commuting to and from work every day. I don’t think they’re going to want to do that on an e-bike.

As long as a majority of Americans live in suburban areas, car dependency will continue.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? People are seemingly ok with laws, but they can get pretty squeamish about enforcement. But what’s the point of a law without enforcement? An unenforced law is just a recommendation. I think to some that’s what it means to live in a “free society,” when laws are mere suggestions and following them is voluntary.

It really depends on how you define “successful.” If your measure of success is based on how closely these societies resemble Western, liberal, capitalist societies, then, yeah, you’re probably not going to see a whole lot of “success,” but that’s not what these revolutionary movements were trying to achieve. I would say that first and foremost what essentially every communist movement was striving for was just autonomy and independence, and many have been successful in that regard. Vietnam is an independent nation, instead of a French colony. China, similarly, is no longer under the thumb of the British. You may not like what these nations do with their autonomy, but that is what they were striving for and they have achieved it.

If you’re still on Earth…

I’ve figured out a lot as I’ve gotten older, but In many cases it has taken a lot of time and a lot of mistakes to get there. Plus, just because you’ve figured something out, that doesn’t necessarily mean your life will be any easier or better. One of the things I’ve figured out is that many things are outside of my control, and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about them. I’ve also figured out that there are a lot of things that are within my power to change, but knowing and doing are two different things.

I’m 42 years old and if my younger self could see where he would end up, he would probably be furious that he hasn’t accomplished more, that he isn’t more of a success, but that idiot can kiss my ass. He doesn’t know shit.