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# U.S. large and in charge
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/u-s-large-and-in-charge/
- Published: 2006-05-23T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T00:04:48.000Z
- Author: David Pisarra
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*WHAT’S THE POINT?*

We are a people who revel in our gluttony. We take excess on a mass scale, to extremes that no other country can conceive of. The consumerism of the Saudi princes seems like small potatoes when compared to the mass consumption of the American in day-to-day life.

Summer is here, so I have switched from the environmentally so-so sport of snow skiing, to some very environmentally unfriendly jet-skiing. We do this at the Colorado River, which is the border of California and Arizona.

We stayed at one of the RV/Trailer parks that line the river. Our mobile home, which other than a microwave oven, had not seen an improvement since 1972, was perfectly suited for three men to swill coffee while prepping for a day of gas-guzzling and sunburning.

Being on the river is a wonderful experience. At daybreak, the birds are waking, and as I sat with a cup of coffee, enjoying the 80-degree sunrise, I marveled at the beauty of the setting. There were little white-tailed rabbits bounding all over the place finding their breakfasts. Lizards were moving into position to get the most sun, and the community of people around me began to waken.

In this trailer park there were maybe 30 mobile homes, that were not very mobile, and then there were spaces for a few hundred trailers and motor homes. I began to wander around the park. This being the river, most people had some type of watercraft.

There were boats of all types, from the lazy touring pontoon boats that one would use for a booze cruise, to the enormous speed boats that pull insane teenagers at high speed on water skis. There were cruisers with big racks that held lights so that night cruises could be enjoyed with all the brightness of a Hollywood premiere.

Jet skis are a popular choice. The sports car of the water-craft world, they allow for maximum fun in a fuel-efficient (relative to a speed boat!) manner.

Of course, if you have a boat or a jet ski, you must have a truck to pull it. The trucks were amazing. These fabulously painted behemoths of steel were everywhere, tattooed with the bumper stickers of their owners’ favorite bands, and those little caricatures in the rear window showing one stick person for each member of the family.

The riverfront road dead-ended into a little hill. We were at the open end of the road, and there was one time where a man and woman drove past us towing their boat to get it filled up with gas, then drove by us again in the other direction to pick up the kids; then back by us a third time, to launch the boat. I was amazed, because all of this happened in the span of 10 minutes. It just screamed out to me how lazy we have become as a society. Rather than have the kids walk to the end of this 500-yard roadway, the man would prefer to drive his truck, towing his boat, up and down it, twice.

All of this, however, is only a precursor to the amount of excess that is possible in America today. For every family must have at least one portable chair per person, a plastic bin of toys for the kids, a cooler for beers, a cooler for sodas, a cooler for food, a portable fold-up shelter... and what day at the river would be complete without several blow-up toys? There’s the floating cabana, the floating mattresses, the chairs that have the built-in drink holders because, God forbid, we were ever without something to stuff into our faces, even if it’s only water (well, water that’s been mixed with barley, hops and malt).

Walking through the park, I noticed that most trailers had all the comforts of home. Which is nice, though it does fly into the face of what camping and being away from home is about. The clubhouse at the park had two wireless set-ups, so that you could surf the web and get your e-mail on your laptop as you watch the half-naked people burn the fossil fuels on the river.

One of the most dramatic changes we noticed was the size of the boats. Back in the old days of the late 70’s, when I would go water-skiing with my brother, the boats were sleek, low slung and built for maneuverability. Today, they have become grotesquely large. Seeing one of the old-style ski boats, it looked out of place, an anachronism similar to fringe coats and leisure suits.

The RVs and the trailers too, have exploded. No longer are these the Airstreams that Lucy and Ricky traveled with to California; they are gargantuan traveling homes. Some even have a built-in garage for the golf cart to be stored in, so that you should never be without transportation.

In my wandering, I came across an old edition of RV Life, it had pictures from the 30s of what campers looked like then. They were nothing more than a pup tent screwed onto the back of a pickup truck.

Next time you find yourself in a Wal-Mart/Target/K- Mart/HomeDepot/Lowes/Costco, just remember, this is really what we are about. Americans are about conspicuous consumption. We love to have stuff. The bigger, the better.

I’m ready for summer because my 60,000 btu gas grill with side burner has arrived for the summer, the second refrigerator in the garage is getting filled with sodas and ribs, and the invitations are going out.

Welcome to summer, now go shopping. (David Pisarra is a lawyer in the Santa Monica firm of Pisarra & Grist. He welcomes your questions and comments. He or 310/664-9969.)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 23, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/052306.pdf?ref=smdp.com)