The Progressive Paradox

YIMBY or progressive, pick a side

I lean libertarian but also think a some is pretty nutty. But the moment when my mind changed is when I left China and went back to college in Madrid. But I didn’t know Americans needed a visa for Europe, that was only true for tourism. So when I went to the college library they told me I needed a school ID. So I went to get a school ID. And the lady at the office asked me for my visa. And I was worried I was getting kicked out of the country and getting kicked out of school. And then the supervisor walked over. The lady explained the situation. And he said “Just print the ID”. And after that I lived in Spain for 2 years and never had a problem. My ex, similar situation, except she just took out an ad in the newspaper to teach English and supported herself that way. And it’s like yeah libertarians are kinda nutty. But also the government is kinda nutty. And most things are just ok to let people handle at the most local level. And it only gets weird at the extremes.

This is a comment The Fifth Column podcast’s ep on Eric Adams immigration speech and the lack of infrastructure to handle the immigration crisis while also having right to house laws and wanting a tourist industry. And it’s like you can be pro-immigration but that means you have to be radically YIMBY. Or you can be NIMBY but then be radically ant-immigration (including within America, NYC needs to by YIMBY to absorb immigrants from other American states). But what you can’t be is a progressive who’s both NIMBY and pro-immigration.

For the obvious observation that Spain is very restrictive about protecting buildings that are almost comically classified as historical. At least in the mid 2000’s Spain wasn’t faced with an immigration crisis from the USA. And I had the privilege to live there unlawfully. Even back then it was probably harder to do that from other places.