April 19, 2005

It's the Environment, Stupid!

In his most recent article for Town Hall, Thomas Sowell takes on (once again) "progressive" thinkers...this time on the San Francisco peninsula. According to Sowell, home owners in San Mateo county saw the value of their homes rise by about $2,000 a day last month because

...most of the county is off-limits to building. These bans on building are known by the more politically appealing name of "open space" laws.

These housing bans are the reason for rising home prices.

Sowell claims that these bans are more hurtful than helpful because, for one reason, young people with families (or who want to start families) cannot afford to live there, thus leaving aging parents in a community without support. How did it come about? Sowell has an answer.

None of this just happened. Nor is it a result of market forces. What has happened essentially is that those already inside the castle have pulled up the drawbridge, so that outsiders can't get in. Politically, this selfishness poses as idealism.

Zing! Sowell hits the nail on the head, as usual. People with lots of money who want to make a "difference" in the world get laws passed for what they consider a good cause. And, as Sowell points out, it makes them feel "important" in the process.

Much of this exclusionary agenda is pushed by people who inherited great wealth and are using it to buy a sense of importance as deep thinkers and moral leaders protecting the environment. The foundations and movements they spearhead are driving working people out of areas dominated by limousine liberals, who are constantly proclaiming their concern for the poor, the children and minorities.

Am I saying we should be building willy nilly on every piece of wetland (formerly known as swamps) or fragile landscape? Of course not, and I'm sure Sowell doesn't advocate it either. But for housing prices in San Mateo County to rise so steeply because no one else is allowed to build surely points out the flaws in their policies.

It makes me think of the Hollywood elites like David Geffen in Malibu trying to keep the hoi polloi off of a very public beach because he felt it infringed on his privacy. Geffen lost his bid...and good riddance.

California dreamin' seems to have turned to California lunacy. Where will it end?

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