<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1458" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>How superior we all are to those loathsome suburbanites!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>They cower in their picket-fence redoubts, festering with race prejudice.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We are at ease in the inner city, they dread being 'mugged'.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>They consume vast resources with their SUVs and one-car commuting. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We step nimbly from urban pad to office, or cycle.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>They are mired in a myth of frontiersman independence. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We celebrate New Deal cities, along with Jane Jacobs.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But, honestly, this is just so much anti-working class snobbery: </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>urbane mandarins masquerading as the underdogs.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Most Americans, like most Britons, live in the suburbs.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hate the suburbanites - hate the majority of the country.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You think that the suburbanites are living out a redundant fantasy?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>One could just as easily say that it is the urban centres that are cleaving to a 19C. model of social organistion.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You are surprised that suburbanites are ill at ease in the City.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But how much more ill at ease are you in the suburbs?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You think it is race prejudice that drives people away from the cities.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think it is a prejudice against the mass that leads urban snobs to dump on the suburbs.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Leftists who should know better find themselves alienated from their fellow men and women.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Instead of asking what is wrong with the left's outlook that sees itself so isolated,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>they ask what's wrong with the people that they don't like us.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And here's a ready-made answer: they are the 'white flight', suburban enemies of the environment.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>And don't cities consume resources?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Richard Rogers, head of the UK Urban Task Force says cities are</FONT></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=Arial size=2>‘the major destroyer of the ecosystem and the greatest threat to mankind’s survival on the planet’ and</FONT></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=Arial size=2>‘Cities are producing disastrous social instability that is further driving environmental decline’</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The imminent exhaustion of natural resources is an article of faith for the critics.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>But the growth of the suburbs is a pointed demonstration that on the contrary, natural resources are readily available.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Land, gasoline, building materials all dedicated to enhancing people's environment.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Once that would have been something that the left would have supported.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now they prefer to cast themselves as latter-day Tsar's refusing Bread and Land to the masses.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>You prefer the New Deal coalition of immigration-fuelled inner city voters?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Guess what. Their children grew up and moved to the suburbs.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>They voted for FDR because he promised to them homes.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Veterans Administraion, the FHA were reforms directed at giving ordinary people a home.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>They succeeded in raising working people's living standards.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>That's something the left should celebrate, not decry.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>