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For society to function properly and for human beings to be free, there are some things that must be treated as so fundamental that they aren't subject to a vot

For society to function properly and for human beings to be free, there are some things that must be treated as so fundamental that they aren't subject to a vote. We protect the right to speech, for example, not because everything everybody says is popular. We protect it because it isn't! Housing is like this. Basically nobody wants a bunch of new housing in their neighborhood. But society can't function if people aren't allowed to build housing. Furthermore, the rights of property holders are fundamentally abridged when they're prohibited by their neighbors from making full use of their land. The right to build housing on your own private property, therefore, can't be subject to a vote. (And, frankly, this right is outlined in the U.S. Constitution, but it's been eroded by comically bad SCOTUS decisions like Euclid v. Ambler.) I'm a YIMBY, not because I want a bunch of new housing my neighborhood. I don't! I'm a YIMBY because I don't think my opinion about the new housing in my neighborhood is relevant, the same way I don't think I should be able to muzzle people who say things I don't like. My position is deeply unpopular, but it's correct. And that's the whole point. That's ironically why property rights need constitutional protection. If you let people vote away their neighbor's property rights, they'll do it every time.

helen___keller 5y ago
On a similar note, a lot of my neighbors do things that aren't illegal that I don't like having near my duplex. One neighbor tore out their garden for a paved patio - i much preferred the garden. Another neighbor leaves an old car with no wheels on their lawn - what an eyesore. But who am I to tell them they are not allowed to do these things? What would be next, they would tell me I'm not allowed to grill in my backyard? I'm hardly a libertarian but it amazes me that of all the absurd "rights" people fight for in this country, the right to use, develop, and maintain your house and property as you wish isn't one of them.
mchusma 5y ago
I liked your comment. I feel the concept we need to completely destroy is that real estate is a store of wealth. We should try for the opposite, to make housing as affordable as possible (via the free market). The main ways to do this are abolish: zoning, minimum parking restrictions, minimum unit size, Eliminate free street parking, Eliminate mortgage interest tax deduction and anything else designed to favor ownership over renting. Then, after we do that: - start building large rotating space habitats, so we can start building effectively infinite living space, and fit a trillion humans in our local area of the solar system.

helen___keller 5y ago

On a similar note, a lot of my neighbors do things that aren't illegal that I don't like having near my duplex. One neighbor tore out their garden for a paved patio - i much preferred the garden. Another neighbor leaves an old car with no wheels on their lawn - what an eyesore. But who am I to tell them they are not allowed to do these things? What would be next, they would tell me I'm not allowed to grill in my backyard? I'm hardly a libertarian but it amazes me that of all the absurd "rights" people fight for in this country, the right to use, develop, and maintain your house and property as you wish isn't one of them.

mchusma 5y ago

I liked your comment. I feel the concept we need to completely destroy is that real estate is a store of wealth. We should try for the opposite, to make housing as affordable as possible (via the free market). The main ways to do this are abolish: zoning, minimum parking restrictions, minimum unit size, Eliminate free street parking, Eliminate mortgage interest tax deduction and anything else designed to favor ownership over renting. Then, after we do that: - start building large rotating space habitats, so we can start building effectively infinite living space, and fit a trillion humans in our local area of the solar system.