Silk-stocking caveman George Will, in a recent Newsweek article , fulminated against against Ray LaHood, New Urbanism, Smart Growth, Portland, and just about anything that.... Silk-stocking caveman George Will, in a recent Newsweek article, fulminated against against Ray LaHood, New Urbanism, Smart Growth, Portland, and just about anything that isn't petrogluttonous suburban sprawl. And he managed somehow to do it in the name of "small government," though only the military is more dependent on tax handouts than American automobilism.

Apparently, Portland is hell; apparently, the following is heaven:



This was the San Diego Freeway (I-405) yesterday at rush hour. You'll note that the Mini Cooper has no driver. That's because Gina had plenty of time to get out of the car and compose the photo.

Never mind that a ton of concrete releases a ton of CO₂ just in its manufacture and transport (how many tons do you see in the picture?); no matter that those idling cars are using oil and emitting fumes for nothing; no matter the hours of life being wasted on that road: just think of how much that road cost, and how much watershed it replaced, of how many tax-paying and happy homes could be on that land, or tax-paying and productive business, or schools, or libraries, or parks, or whatever....

Because driving is subsidized, oh Georgie: read what good ol' conservative Texas has to say about it in Do Roads Pay for Themselves?

And let's not forget what ultraconservative Walter Lippman said back in 1939, when the movement to force Americans into automobile dependency was really starting to roll:

G.M. has spent a small fortune to convince the American public that if it wishes to enjoy the full benefit of private enterprise in motor manufacturing, it will have to rebuild its cities and highways by public enterprise.

George, you're not only just plain wrong, you aren't very conservative either: the suburbs are anti-family and anti-community; Portland style development nurtures both, and uses tax money more efficiently, especially in making it easier for people to move freely about.

Weren't family, community, and freedom once values of the right? Who has been transformed, Georgie? LaHood, or...you?