Do Conservatives Really Like Free Markets?

No.

Not in America, anyway. A case in point is the shape of American suburbs. Eco-liberals are always complaining about sprawl and demanding that we build denser, more walkable neighborhoods. Conservatives fire back that this is "socialism," that the suburbs are the product of the "free market," that liberals are once again trying to dictate how people live instead of letting them choose for themselves, and so on. This is completely untrue. The suburbs as we know them are not the result of free choice, but are "rather, mandated by a vast and seemingly intractable network of government regulations, from zoning laws and building codes to street design regulations." Matt Yglesias:

Take the thrilling Maricopa County Zoning Ordinance in Phoenix and it’s suburbs. Chapter 6 covers single family residential zones. You’ve got your R1-35 areas in which you need 35,000 square feet of land per dwelling unit, your R1-10 areas where you need 10,000 feet, and then separate zones for 8,000 square feet per unit; 7,000 square feet per dwelling; and 6,000 square feet per dwelling.

If you want to build a multi-family structure in those places, you can’t. If you find yourself an R2 zone you can, but it can only be a two family structure. Also your building can’t be taller than 40 feet, “There shall be a front yard having a depth of not less than 20 feet,” the year yard needs to be 25 feet, and the side yard needs to be at least 5 feet. On average, buildings can only occupy at most 50 percent of the lot. And there have to be two parking spaces per dwelling unit. And you can go so on and so forth throughout the whole thing. The point, however, is that walkable urbanism is illegal in most of the county. Not just giant skyscrapers, but anything even remotely non-sprawling.

It happens every day in America that some developer wants to build a dense neighborhood, with townhouses and condominium buildings, but finds that this is blocked by a combination of zoning rules and opposition from neighbors who rail against traffic, congestion, crime, and the threat of brown people moving in. In Prince William County Virginia a few years ago a bill was proposed to ban all construction of town houses. It failed, but the compromise limits the percentage of new housing permits that can be given to townhouses.

The same goes for highways, which are every bit as much a government creation as subway lines. Conservatives don't really oppose subways and dense neighborhoods because they are socialist; they oppose them because they are un-American. American conservatism is really about the defense of a particular vision of life, built around happy heterosexual families living in houses with big yards and driving to work in big cars.

I suppose that is in principle no less defensible than any other political agenda, but it annoys me to listen to fans of Sarah Palin rail against big government, when everything about their cozy suburban lives is government controlled.