Originally Posted by
Odysseus
You're presuming that liberals care about the environment. They don't. They care about control. The problems that they cite are either fictitious or exaggerated, but the solutions are always the same: centralized control of the economy. They don't build cities, but they demand the right to decide who lives where. They don't build factories, power plants or universities, but they dictate where they can be built, what they can make, what fuels them, what they can and can't teach and who they can hire.
This is exactly the kind of program that liberals want. They talk about "sustainable design" for cities, but it's just code for moving people to where they don't want to go by the use of zoning restrictions, mass transit subsidies, manipulation of the tax codes and a million other ways of imposing their will. Remember that the housing projects were their way of moving the urban poor into new, clean, perfectly sustainable housing that would be easy to administer through a central program, and which would replace the unsightly slums that offended their sensibilities when they passed by in their limos. Within a decade, they were high-rise slums, but they were centrally located, and convenient to party block captains when they needed to get the vote out, so they stay in place. They won't move the poor. They won't move the rich, who enjoy the sophisticated pleasures of urban centers. That leaves the middle class, who are gradually being driven out of cities by poor schools, increasing housing costs, job losses, higher taxes and declining services. However, those cities can't function without them, so they have to be kept within commuting distance. But cars on highways and congestion are not aesthetically pleasing, so they have to be coerced into mass transit. Cars also offend the sensibilities of elites who object to people being able to go where they want, when they want, without being hassled. They hate the idea of Americans taking to the roads for vacations. They loathe the thought that we can relocate when their policies force us out of the places where we grew up, and they can't stand the thought of us burning fuels and driving SUVs or trucks.
This isn't about the environment. If it were, the left would embrace clean coal, nuclear and natural gas, which are proven, clean energy sources. They'd encourage domestic oil drilling and pipelines, which are less risky to the environment than supertankers that have to transit dangerous parts of the world and risk massive spills. They would permit wind farms within sight of their homes, instead of filing lawsuits that put their scenic views over the energy needs of their neighbors. They'd live in the smaller homes that they expect us to live in. They'd fly commercial, instead of on private planes. They'd fire their drivers, scrap their limos and drive the same econoboxes that they demand that we make do with. In short, they'd practice what they preach. But they don't, because it isn't about the environment, it's about controlling their fellow men and women.
