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The Left Demands: Wither, Suburbia.

James at OTB this morning examines an issue which the price of oil has been bringing to the fore, called “The Future of Suburbia” [1].   Now, look; I admit I pushed this one a bit off James’ intended thrust. I suggest you read it to see what angle James pursues, here. But I’m a little annoyed, frankly. Look at the discussions he brings in:

James Kunstler, for example, opines that,

There are many ways of describing the fiasco of suburbia, but these days I refer to it as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world.

[…]

The suburbs have three destinies, none of them exclusive: as materials salvage, as slums, and as ruins. In any case, the suburbs will lose value dramatically, both in terms of usefulness and financial investment. Most of the fabric of suburbia will not be “fixed” or retrofitted, in particular the residential subdivisions. They were built badly in the wrong places. We will have to return to traditional modes of inhabiting the landscape — villages, towns, and cities, composed of walkable neighborhoods and business districts — and the successful ones will have to exist in relation to a productive agricultural hinterland, because petro-agriculture (as represented by the infamous 3000-mile Caesar salad) is also now coming to an end.

James suggests hallucinogenic compunds are being employed to come to this conclusion. While I do tend to agree, I think it runs deeper.  Kunstler is engaged in wishful thinking. He can’t understand for the life of him the attraction of the ‘burbs, particularly in light of what he sees as the great panic button issues of the day, oil prices and the global warming scam, etc. 

I have to tell you, though, I’m always annoyed as a matter of instinct when these discussions come up, particularly given oil prces of late, and the global warming scam.  I pull a quote from James of Kevin Drum:

But, as Kevin Drum rightly notes, suburbs aren’t an invention of government

Bold is mine. I tell him:

Quite correct, but it doesn’t go far enough. Suburbs are in fact an ESACPE from government, or at least they were at the outset. Which, by the way is why local town and rural governments tend toward more conservative people. Obviously, those are conclusions I’d never expect a Kevin drum to arrive at without force of arms.

But more, Suburbia is an escape from the population denisty and the problems thereof; That’s a problem nobody’s ever cured, and we have no reason to think they will.

There are other issues with the cities, as well… Concentrated people density means conentrated power of government and that means concentrated corruption, as well, of which Detroit is the most glaring example in the quiver right now. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to move there, can you?

And yet the great wet dream for the left is herding people back to the cities, which is of course where their power resides. Liberal politicians tend to do well in the higher population density areas… the cities, in short.. and outside the city, Conservatives/libertarians tend to do well. Gee, I can’t imagine why leftists would want to see Suburbanites forced intot he cities, can you?

All this is exactly why we see the left cheering the recent spike in oil prices and why we see the reluctance to drilling for oil domestically… the desire, in fact to keep the prices high, and keep suburban freedom away fromas many Americans as possible… and yes, that’s what it boils down to. They see this as the ticket to a massive return to urban America. The hope is, that such prices will take away the chocie of the suburbs or rural America for most Americans.

Given the problems of population density, what we see in today’s cities is what is in store for everyone forced back to the cities by high fuel prices. All for the political power of the left.

Sorry, but I don’t see that as a positive development.

This is where the politics of the left are dragging us; Back into the urban hell-holes we Americans escaped from deacdes ago. The tools to get us there are the global warming scam, lack of Domestic oil production, high taxes on transporation, leftist demands of government run mass transportation, etc. All for the political power it brings.  That’s what this is REALLY all about, people.

As I did earlier today with the ‘fairness doctrine’… I’ll ask, Does anyone doubt that if the Democrats maintain their hold on Congress, and/or if Obama [2] gets to the White House, we won’t be pushed further toward that long held goal of eliminating Suburbia?