I tend to think that the right of exit is the ultimate and fundamental check on such abuses of power. This is why I favour decentralization / federalization / devolution as improvements to the status quo of increasing centralization of political power. I think that on more or less every level of government we would benefit from decentralization of power. City-wide bylaws on noise pollution are too coarse-grained for example. An entertainment district or an area popular with students should have different standards than a residential area with many working families. Zoning rules are an attempt to make such allowances but I think private solutions are likely to work better. I’d at least like to see them tried so we can start to see what works.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she with silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
I tend to think that the right of exit is the ultimate and fundamental check on such abuses of power. This is why I favour decentralization / federalization / devolution as improvements to the status quo of increasing centralization of political power. I think that on more or less every level of government we would benefit from decentralization of power. City-wide bylaws on noise pollution are too coarse-grained for example. An entertainment district or an area popular with students should have different standards than a residential area with many working families. Zoning rules are an attempt to make such allowances but I think private solutions are likely to work better. I’d at least like to see them tried so we can start to see what works.
So the issue is that of scale, then?
And the right of exit is conditional on there being somewhere to go. Finding such a place can sometimes be difficult.
It worked out pretty well for the US.
It worked out pretty well for the US, but a distressingly high proportion of Americans don’t seem to know that.