Democrats, Urban Sprawl, and Exurban Voters

Max Bergmann at Democracy Arsenal has an interesting point about exurban voters turning to the Democrats because of transportation issues. This is the kind of issue Democrats can really be leaders on. Living in the far-out exurbs sucks. Certainly some of the blame goes to the people who choose to live in these places. Everyone wants their big house (after all, how did humans live for so long with less than 1500 square feet per dwelling?) and their yard. The American Dream remains strong in our mythology. While lots of people are moving back into the cities, lots more continue to pour into ever expanding suburban development.

For years, these people voted for the Republicans, in large part because of racial issues and to some extent over taxes as well. But as Bergmann points out, this is changing. Much of the Democratic resurgence in Virginia has come from these areas. People move out there and then realize that the complete lack of urban planning makes their dreams a lot more like nightmares than they thought. With the collapsing housing market, massive debt load many of these homeowners took on, and the Republican crackdown on bankruptcies, a lot of voters seem to be reconsidering their political allegiances. Democrats are taking advantage and becoming increasingly competitive in places like Virginia, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado--all states that face these problems.

I am also stealing Bergmann's photo here of the line between development and farmland. It's worth seeing what happens to America's beauty when we decide to live in the suburbs. The massive expansion of northern Virginia has destroyed tens of thousands of acres of our most beautiful and historical land. Does this beauty, so well-contrasted here with suburban dreck, not deserve to be saved? Obviously this is no wilderness, as if there really is such a thing anyway, but just because Europeans have a long historical interaction with a piece of land does not mean that we shouldn't save it from pointless development.