New American Paradigm

Piglet Flu

Updating the children's books to reflect more modern concerns.

Hat tip Andrew Sullivan

The Conservative Case for Transit

All too often support for transit is seen as a liberal weenie tree-hugger phenomenon.  While I share the view that protecting the world we live in is a moral imperative, It makes it too easy for conservatives to dismiss it in favor of their SUVs.  However, there's actually a very compelling argument for public transportation rooted in conservative principles.  David Schaengold of Plumb Lines makes a nice case for transit and neourbanism that I've made previously here and here.

Consider how small businesses are affected by Americans’ dependency on cars. Since businesses are obliged by zoning restrictions to locate far away from residential areas, most Americans drive to every store they visit. This means that store visits are often discrete trips that must be undertaken consciously and planned out ahead of time. As a consequence, shoppers will want to visit stores that carry the most diverse inventory—Wal-Mart, Costco, et al.—and avoid shops that specialize in one particular kind of good—the local paint store or flower shop, for instance.

The Tea Party/Libertarian Connection

Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight has done some interesting statistical analysis indicating that the April 15th tax day "Tea Parties" may have been more about (small "L") libertarian backlash than a broader Republican based movement.

Nate draws the connection between per capita contributions to libertarian Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul and attendance at Tea Party events. Campaign contributions are a strong indicator of not only support, but of enthusiasm. 

To account for uneven attendance reporting, Nate measured per capita attendance by region dividing the US into 11 regions. 

The result seems fairly clear:

Obama's Fourth Way

The New Republic has an interesting take on Obama's governing philosophy.  It's been difficult for allies and enemies to categorize due in part to the fact that Obama is a different kind of Democrat.  Charges of Socialism may roll easily off the tongue for many conservatives, but it's not a label with any merit if you actually look at his proposals.  But he's also not a New Democrat in the Clinton mold either.  He retains the faith that so many Democrats lost in government having any positive influence. 

So what is he?

Obama has set out to synthesize the New Democratic faith in the utility of markets with the Old Democratic emphasis on reducing inequality. In Obama's state, government never supplants the market or stifles its inner workings--the old forms of statism that didn't wash economically, and certainly not politically. But government does aggressively prod markets--by planting incentives, by stirring new competition--to achieve the results he prefers. With health care, for instance, he would make it easier for employees to tote their insurance from job to job, eliminating the disincentive for insurers to invest in preventive care. Or take his bank plan, which helps banks dispose of their toxic assets, reducing uncertainty and making the banks more attractive to private investors--a far less drastic step than nationalization. Rather than force markets to conform to his wishes, he shapes their calculus so they conclude (on their own) that their interests coincide with his wishes.

End of Sprawl? Part II

Previously in part one of this series I talked a bit about how an obscure issue like land use had made it onto the President's radar.  After all, it's not like he doesn't have other things to worry about.  Yesterday President Obama said:

"I know a lot of you are worried about Iran's nuclear program and the implications it has on Middle East peace, but today I'd like to talk about the proposed strip mall in South Hill."

Ok he didn't really say that, but he has talked about the impact of urban sprawl and it's role in our current economic problems.  So today I'm going to describe the economics of sprawl and how it rears it's head in unexpected places.

First, to understand the problem you have to remember that first rule of real estate.  No, don't believe what Alec Baldwin told you, it's not Always Be Closing.

It's location, location, location.  Though local market conditions vary, as a general rule the closer to jobs and services one is, the more expensive the real estate.  Though things like views, crime, waterfront, quality schools and good antiquing can add value, you're going to save money by moving to rural areas.  That combined with absurdly cheap and convenient transportation in cars drives people further and further from town.

Housekeeping Note

Ok... the blog is back.  Not having a laptop was an interesting, if frustrating, experiment.  What happens to a person who has adopted wholeheartedly the use of the Firefox password memorizing feature and breaks his computer so badly it's sent off California for repair (apparently my clumsiness is too much for the local Geek Squad peeps.) 

It turns out that 1) email passwords should always be remembered no matter what.  Why?  It's hard to get password reminders when you can't retrieve email because you can't remember that password.  2)  Once you adopt online banking, it's hard to figure out what is paid when.  3)  Blogs go unattended and people get bored.

So I promise to post more often in exchange for more participation.  Lots of people reading, not-so-much commenting.  Added bonus - I'll learn how to man-pretty so this no longer looks like an AOL site circa 1998.

More to follow.