THE DEMOCRATS FINALLY WON THE SUBURBS. NOW WILL THEY DESTROY THEM?

New Geography reports:

Whatever party figures out how to appeal to suburban voters will own the political future. To be sure, millennial suburbanites may be for attracted to the greater diversity in some suburbs, and to those with existing or created walkable “town centers.” But they also want tree-lined streets, backyards and single-family homes. Since 2010, some 80 percent of millennial growth has been in suburbs and exurbs—which is where most millennials have said they’d prefer to live in survey after survey.

No one moves to the suburbs to recreate the congestion, high prices and often political dysfunction of the urban cores. Schools are a critical factor: suburbs are. far more family-centric, which leads to a focus not on ideology but economic issues such as health care, education, and public safety.

However much they might detest Trump, suburbanites are not likely to rally long-term to a party that seeks to wipe out their way of life. The assault on suburbia, both from the ultra-capitalist right and socialist-minded left, neglects the very reasons—space and privacy—people of all ethnicities move to suburbia. Just as Republicans can ignore the unintended consequences of ultra-free market policies, Democrats ignore the aspirations of their own voters.

More important still, the anti-single-family campaign undermines the foundation of our democracy. The essence of American civilization has been the pursuit of a better life for oneself and one’s family. Take away the ability to own one’s home and we are well on our road to a neo-feudal society where the masses will need to rely on the state not only for housing but, without meaningful assets, to finance their retirement.

The clamor to restrict single-family homes and thus push the American dream further out of many Americans’ reach, represents an assault on what both parties once espoused. An America without widespread homeownership is no longer an aspirational country, but a place where people remain imprisoned by their class and unable to pursue what they perceive as a better quality of life.

An article well worth your time.