Reply #58: People are afraid of the Lifestyle Police....

[Ron Green]

Perhaps more so on the Right than on the Left, but as Americans we've always had the "rugged individualist" streak.

However, it's not black or white, is it? The farther you want to live outside the mainstream, the more difficult some things become. It seems that what the suburban lifestyle has done over 60 years is changed the mainstream. And we can and should make policy that starts to shift it back:

Public transportation
Eco-communities
Economic incentives in urban areas
Family farm incentives

The list goes on, I'm sure. The open market will not do it; the market has brought us the suburbs, to our general peril, and only by public policy and tax structure can we reverse the trend.