The Radical Individualist

In other words, these are condos. It's ben done.

I learned a few things. Thanks.

Anybody who recommends decreasing our dependence on Washington gets my attention. It's time to let go of the notion that Big Brother knows best. In reality, Big Brother is a bloated, lethargic, self-serving, unresponsive beast. But that's just my opinion...

We would do well to recognize that the federal government is constitutionally supposed to behave much like the EU. Just as the European states created the EU and control it, the American states created the federal government and allegedly control it. But the two parties have stomped all over that concept. We now have government in which the two parties are the ultimate 'authority', constitution be damned.

So, yes, let's take a weed whacker to the federal overgrowth, and trim it back to what the constitution stipulates.

But does that solve all our problems? Of course not. Elle seems to think that local control will solve our problems. I prefer local control. I don't know why everybody doesn't want that. But local governments are still made out of politicians, and there is your essential problem. There is no reason to presume that public ownership of anything is automatically an advantage over private ownership.

It is absurd to presume that we all want the things, or even should want the same things. So, what interests will the politicians represent? They will represent the interests of their biggest campaign donors. Count on it.

And that is why private ownership works best, if not perfectly. Each person or group can invest and make choices that suit them. It's their time, their life, and their money. Why should someone else be in charge?

"We could convert a lot of the world’s land to autonomous communities this way." What the hell is an 'autonomous community'? There is no such thing. There used to be, but no community today can be autonomous.

As for public ownership, nothing in the USA precludes that. Cities own land. They own the schools, the parks, the libraries, the roads. They enter into public/private partnerships for things such as hotels, convention centers, theaters, whatever. Legally, everything that Elle suggests is doable, and is being done to some extent or another. The question remains, who is in charge, and are they honest and competent? And will the next generation also be honest and competent?

There never has been, and never will be, Utopia. We can only do the best we can.

I don't think any of this is as unique as you think.

I only wish some of your visions could be relied upon. Hing Kong was largely self-sufficient while Great Britain controlled it. Now, China controls it, and freedoms are being eviscerated.

In America, cities are self-sufficient to a large degree. So far as governments go, the local government is generally a much greater presences in a citizen's life than the state or federal government. So, American cities at least resemble you ideal. The trouble is, those local governments, more often than not, treat citizens like just so much chattel. So, now what?

Keep in mind that, in America, two parties control all governments at all levels. It wasn't meant to be that way, but it's the way it is. With almost no exceptions, a city council member or other city official, is more concerned with serving his party than with serving citizens. If a developer wants to deface a neighborhood with inappropriate construction, they bypass the citizens and go straight to the party in power. They make their deals, and the citizen can protest to their heart's content, but it will make no difference. Trust me, I am quite knowledgeable in this regard.

If you have viable solutions to this, I am all ears.

There's plenty of land. More land than anyone knows what to do with.

But the land that matters is land that has been developed; cities, towns, highways, quarries and factories, to name a few.

Show me just one Utopian with an engineering degree. What Utopian can actually plan a community that functions? Tell me how this community is any different than anyone else's. How is their electric grid any different? What about their manufacturing base? Do you think materials just fall from the sky? What will you use for money? Who will do the building, given that any utopian I've ever met has no clue how to build anything? What about crime? Are you just going to think nice thoughts and hope that everyone else does, too?

This has been talked about before, tried before, and failed every time.