Safe neighborhoods, good schools, space, and reliable services increasingly look less like the baseline and more like premium add-ons.
Over the past few decades, many industries have discovered they can expand their customer base and profits by selling cheaper, inferior versions of their products while degrading the experience for everyone. Air travel and theme parks are obvious examples that learned the advantages of scale could outweigh the obligation to deliver a high-quality experience.
This philosophy has spread beyond economics into American public life. The United States government increasingly treats the country in the same manner: expanding the customer base, maximizing throughput, then selling people a tiered version of the American experience as the baseline crumbles.
An America designed for everyone eventually becomes an America belonging to no one in particular.
The old theme-park model was simple. Visitors paid one admission price and had roughly equal access to rides and attractions. The problem was capacity: when too many people entered, everyone spent the day standing in line.
The solution involved selling more tickets, allowing lines to grow, then charging customers extra to escape the congestion created by the company itself. Premium passes make the park tolerable for those willing to pay, but they do not resolve crowded restaurants, bathrooms, sidewalks, or parking lots. The park serves more customers, earns more money, and becomes less pleasant.
