The answer to "What Is an American?" goes some distance in explaining why the Joneses and those who keep up with them live not as Thoreau did, nor as Berry does, but as bundles of unacknowledged contradictions: they have treadmills in their basements and riding lawnmowers in their garages; they drive to gyms across town (and over rivers) to ride stationary bikes (and use rowing machines). These exemplary citizens have been "educated" to be self-reliant and resourceful in schools funded by state lotteries and casinos. 

Jason Peters, Introduction to Wendell Berry: Life and Work