Saturday, December 18, 2010

Snark meets Reality

Blue Virginia had an interesting post the other day - touting Arlington as a sustainable community while snarking how John McCain's brother had called the area "communist country."
I wasn't sure what to think of the point.
Then I read Victor Davis Hanson's story of modern-day California. And Legal Insurrection's take on that, with thoughts of 1980s USSR.
Were the shiny cities the reality of the communist country? Or what Professor Jacobson saw outside the cities?
Leaving the ring road was like taking a step a hundred years back in time. No modern toilets, donkeys pulling carts, manual pump water wells, and so on. This was a scene repeated from city to city. If all you ever saw were the cities, you couldn't understand the country.

I commented at the time (I have witnesses!) that I didn't see how the country could last another decade given its intrinsic third world economy supporting a first world military, and it didn't.
The snark - if it's a shiny nice place and not a labor camp, then a "communist country" isn't that bad. This is how you ought to live.
The reality - maybe the "shiny city" is the facade, taking resources from out in the country to make life appear good under its regime.
Maybe it's time to stop touting the "shiny city" as the way to be. Instead, look at what your laws have destroyed in the country.

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