I actually live in the country (maybe technically exurbs). No amount of sidewalks or bike paths or reasonable density bus routes is going to get me to either of my offices. This isn't a new thing. My house was built in 1823 well before things were designed for cars.
This is completely fair and is absolutely a very real thing for many people. But only about 19% of the US population lives in rural areas, for some definition [1] of rural.
Unlike rural areas, cities are dense enough that we could certainly choose to build them in a different way, so that we are not all completely dependent on our cars to go anywhere. For a lot of folks, I think it's definitely a discussion worth having.
I'm actually not rural by the US Census definition. And probably not especially close even though I and a couple neighbors are on 100 acres between us. I live in a 7K person town and it's not even remotely rural by US Census definitions.
