The American left has always hated the suburbs. Why so many people would leave a grimy, dysfunctional urban landscape for grass and trees has always baffled liberal elites. Malvena Reynolds’ nonsensical ditty “Little Boxes” conveys their snarking scorn of the ‘burbs. Here’s Stalin apologist Pete Seeger singing it. Note that it’s not only a criticism of the suburbs, but of success itself. Lawyers, doctors, the university and happy families all take a hit here:
The Obama administration continues this irrational bias with what this great article calls a war on suburbia. You can see it in their push for denser “smart growth,” mass transit in the European model, “sustainability” and “green” development, and a host of other squishy concepts that leftist adore. But no matter what rationales they trot out publicly, this is their ultimate goal:
Ultimately, the war against suburbia reflects a radical new vision of American life which, in the name of community and green values, would reverse the democratizing of the landscape that has characterized much of the past 50 years. It would replace a political economy based on individual aspiration and association in small communities, with a more highly organized, bureaucratic, and hierarchical form of social organization.