I have nothing to add so I'll go on a tangent. Urban sprawl is an effective defense against protests. You tax buildings and convince everyone that single-famil

I have nothing to add so I'll go on a tangent. Urban sprawl is an effective defense against protests. You tax buildings and convince everyone that single-family living is the best, and do some rent controls that won't actually help rent, so that people think dense housing and rentals are inherently bad. Then they'll spread out thin across acres of land in single-story detached houses. Even though this costs more in infrastructure and requires everyone to maintain a car, and car insurance, people seem to be okay with it. But then, with everyone spread out, public spaces hostile to any kind of sitting, and no public toilets (America doesn't pay to piss! Because we have no public toilets at all!), it's difficult to find parking for a big protest, it's difficult to carpool with the strangers you live miles away from. In any city that's too small to be walkable, it's hard to consistently show up to protests even when you want to, because the car dependency adds a lot of friction.