Route 66, New Mexico, and Trade Wars

Tucumcari, New Mexico was once a thriving stop along Route 66. For decades, travelers would stay there in the numerous motels and dine in Tucumcari’s restaurants. Time, however, never stands still. In 1981 I-40 came to Tucumcari and effectively killed the town's hospitality industry. 

Several of the hotels are still hanging on four decades later, kept alive by nostalgia for a different time. Many Americans, as well as foreign travels, romanticized the Route 66 era. For good reason. It was a time of wonder and adventure that just can’t exist in the instant gratification digital age, where almost everything you desire is available at an instant.

It is easy to romanticize the road post-war road trip era. There is nothing more inherently American than hitting the open road and just seeing where fate takes you.

For people born before the 1990s it is ingrained in our cultural DNA. We were all raised on road trip books and movies.  I even considered changing my entire route on this trip and taking I-40 all the way out to Barstow and picking up I-15 to Vegas just so I could say “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold” but since I’ve never been a druggy I would just be lying to you all. 

The truth, though, is that the road trip era is over. It was on life support for a longtime, but with expanded flight access, the explosion of the internet and social media, and the lingering effects of the covid response our culture has become more self-contained For people born in the 2000s they experience life on screens. This is why zoomers want to be influencers more than any other career path. 

I would say that the road trip era was a more exciting time for sure. Was it a better time? That is a not so simple question to answer. We have lost the sense of wonder and adventure that previous eras held. It has been replaced with instant gratification and abundance. Whether that is better or worse is subjective. What isn’t subjective is that life is easier now than it has ever been.

I can hear all the screaming about “It’s not easier”, “We can’t afford homes” etc. The fact is that being able to complain about “not being able to buy a home” online from the comfort of your apartment or whatever you are renting is proof that things are easier now. I’m not saying that everything is great. Far from it. What I am saying is that it wasn’t great in the past, either. That’s the problem with romanticizing bygone eras. People focus on what they see as good from those eras and ignore all the inherent problems that existed.

Now, what does all this have to do with Trade Wars? Well, I am glad you asked. Trump’s trade war and the entire concept of “Make America Great Again” is rooted in a desire to return to a bygone era. Forcing the country to move back to an era where people worked in factories, real prices were higher, and there were fewer options on the shelves for consumers to choose from is as foolish as blowing up I-40 to force people back on Route 66 to save Tucumcari’s hospitality industry. Either would be something that a communist regime would think up as part of a five-year plan.