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Article: The Tea Party Targets... Sustainable Development?

gweed123

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Have to agree with Justin. We need a mainstream media source on the same illogical level as Fox News and Sun TV on the left. Try conversing with someone who is a dedicated follower of conservative media, it is as if they are brainwashed. They just repeat the same rhetoric word for word, about how lefties are all communists or that Obama is a Kenyan, etc. It is quite frightening how a seemingly normal person can take partisan politics to a cult like level

I wrote up a post on another forum (which didn't upload properly :mad: ) that if I had the money and know how, I would start up an ultra-left news channel. Like how Fox News calls virtually all left leaning policy socialism, I'd call all right leaning policy fascism. Fiscal responsibility. Fascism. Contracting out certain government jobs to the private sector? Fascism. Putting violent offenders in jail to protect the public safety? Fascism.

I think of myself as center-left, so obviously I don't agree with the above thinking. But for those who are too afraid to think for themselves, it gives them a choice on to what side of the fence they wish to sit on, rather than "elitist left" versus "patriotic right." Once they've gotten the basics, they can move on to more intelligent political discussion. If these wingnuts think that the current media is too leftist, they haven't seen anything yet...
 
It's a bit ironic though, the very same people that are militant about resisting zoning laws are the very first ones to go whining to the local government when their neighbour tries to do something that would lower their property values by say building a gas station in the middle of a residential area - something only possible in the absence of zoning laws.

Simply enough, you have to put it in terms that the selfish individualists would understand. No zoning laws give YOU freedom, but also gives your NEIGHBOUR freedom to do stuff that may affect you. Or, you don't want to live in a "habitation zone" then fine, but don't whine when a chemical plant opens next door. Or, Non-contiguous urban development = higher service cost = you pay higher taxes.
 
Everyone: I read the Mother Jones articles about this topic and I feel that another oil price shock may change minds in the subject of responsible development...

It is not a question of if it is question of when this will happen...the era of totally auto-dependent sprawl development may come to an end rather abrubtly...

I am no fan of the Tea Party movement and this is just another way of them showing their total anti-Government (of any kind to me) views...

LI MIKE
 
The problem with public servants (and I am one) is that they often use generic global buzzwords of the day to sell their projects. Now you have a group that's reacting to said buzzwords and your project is all covered with those labels. Makes for an easy target.

Planners should stop talking about sustainability and sustainable development. However did they survive before those words existed?

Just sell your project on its impacts for the community (lower local pollution, less traffic, etc.). That's what gets the community on side and makes nutters like Agenda 21 Tea partiers look like they are out to harm the community's interests for the sake of their agenda.
 
The problem with public servants (and I am one) is that they often use generic global buzzwords of the day to sell their projects. Now you have a group that's reacting to said buzzwords and your project is all covered with those labels. Makes for an easy target.

Planners should stop talking about sustainability and sustainable development. However did they survive before those words existed?

Just sell your project on its impacts for the community (lower local pollution, less traffic, etc.). That's what gets the community on side and makes nutters like Agenda 21 Tea partiers look like they are out to harm the community's interests for the sake of their agenda.

I just can't believe that there are people who are offended by sustainability. I can understand people who complain about spending money on sustainability (money that could be spent elsewhere), but sustainabilty itself?! I just don't get it. Should we stop pointing out that we are helping the environment because people are offended when we do so?
 
Have to agree with Justin. We need a mainstream media source on the same illogical level as Fox News and Sun TV on the left. Try conversing with someone who is a dedicated follower of conservative media, it is as if they are brainwashed. They just repeat the same rhetoric word for word, about how lefties are all communists or that Obama is a Kenyan, etc. It is quite frightening how a seemingly normal person can take partisan politics to a cult like level

You just criticized all conservatives by lumping them together and then criticized them for lumping lefties together.
These tea partiers are a very extreme form of right wing, just as socialists/anti-capitalists are a very extreme form of left wing. Don't brand the whole with the minority extreme.

But yeah, the fact that these people think urban planning is an attempt to force people into a human habitat zone is laughable.
 
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Think of the border as a stupidity barrier. :D

Unfortunately, a lot of the standards and trends that Canada uses the US uses as well (think LEED). If these groups continue to put pressure on the planning process, these planning standards and trends may become dilluted, which will certainly negatively affect Canada.

Not to mention, since Canada is very tied with the US, it could be possible that this anti-planning movement gains traction in Canada as well. Every village has its idiot.
 
^^^ Good point, although the Tea Party types are mostly rural residents I think. Plus Canadians don't have the level of anti-government sentiments that you hear of down there.
 
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I tend to be more libertarian than most in these circles, but I still think this is a good laugh.

While I do think there are some issues around smart growth policies (re: cost of living and property rights), the claims of "habititation zones" are downright puzzling. People have been flocking to these "habitation zones" voluntarily for the last century, and they never needed the United Nations "World Government" to force them into it.

There's ligitimate concern, and then there's seeing a vast evil conspiracy behind everything without putting any thought into it.
 
^^^ Good point, although the Tea Party types are mostly rural residents I think. Plus Canadians don't have the level of anti-government sentiments that you here of down there.

No, but Canadians are certainly inflicted with the disease that makes people think that Change = Progress. The two are completely independent. Rob Ford is a prefect example of this. He tapped into the unsatisfied, angry, semi-educated masses that heard the phrase "we need change" and they jumped on it like a dog on a bone. Just because you have change, doesn't necessarily mean it's positive change (ie progress).
 
Just because you have change, doesn't necessarily mean it's positive change (ie progress).

Unfortunately, not everyone agrees on what qualifies as "progress" or even whether "progress" is a good thing. Certainly there is a lot that "progressives" stand for that I wouldn't consider worth pursuing.
 

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