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John Taylor,
President of the Virginia Institute for Public
Policy, publisher of Virginia Viewpoint.
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By
William C. Dennis, Ph.D.
My
family moved to the
Northern Virginia
portion of Greater Washington about a year ago and
almost immediately began to hear complaints from
others recent arrivals concerning the traffic, the
congestion, and the growing urban sprawl. Well, the
traffic is bad and new suburbs, really whole new
small cities, do seem to be sprouting like mushrooms
after a rain. Yet despite the sprawl, once one turns
off the main thoroughfares, one is impressed with
the number of quiet, green, handsome neighborhoods,
the easily available shopping areas and cultural
amenities, the large school grounds, the extensive
public areas and private office parks, and the
hundreds of miles of hiking and biking trails that
extend from the DC city center. Despite all the
complaints and the growing number of inhabitants,
most seem to find the area a pleasant enough place
to live.
True,
it wasn’t always this congested around here.
Washington
was just a small, sleepy city until well into the
New Deal. This entire transformation has taken place
within a lifetime, most of it since the days of the
Great Society in the 1960s. Now there is a steady
stream of new arrivals to fill the jobs created by
this great, and growing capital which, for better or
worse, has become the focus of world, not just
American, political life. For those ambitious to
make their mark on the world scene – all the
people of the elected and permanent government, the
military, the lobbyists and trade associations, the
diplomats, the scientific and health researchers,
the world famous universities, the think tanks of
all persuasions, and all the thousands and thousands
needed to service their many and varied needs and
desires – Greater Washington is the place to be.
However,
think back for a moment to another great city that
once functioned as the practical capital of the
world. Imagine ancient Rome on the eve of the first
barbarian conquest in 408, a city Edward Gibbon
estimated at “twelve hundred thousand: a number
which cannot be thought excessive for the capital of
a mighty empire though it exceeds the populousness
of the greatest cities of modern Europe [in
1783].” Here too was a city of crowds, and noise,
and smells, and filth, and commerce, and excitement,
and creativity, and sprawling sub-urbs, spreading
beyond the original walls in an uncontained flow.
But at the end of its long, slow, thousand year
decline and fall, Gibbon found, “The population of
Rome, far below the measure of the great capitals of
Europe, does not exceed one hundred and seventy
thousand inhabitants, the largest portion of the
seven hills is overspread with vineyards and
ruins.” Well, that pretty much took care of all
the congestion—and the fun and excitement, too.
Now
no one wishes such a dismal fate on Greater
Washington, but some of us think America would
benefit from a lot less government more dispersed
across our great country. A modest government,
confined to its proper constitutional limits, would
certainly take care of the problem of sprawl and
congestion. But as long as Washington remains the
imperial city that it has become, there really is
not much that can be done to keep its physical
expansion contained. The politicians, with their
characteristic hubris, will hold meetings and
planning sessions, and create new commissions, and
raise taxes, and spend money. But not much will
change.
“Smart
growth” restrictions will be like mere container
dams thrown up against an implacable flood, the
water of which will find its way around these feeble
barriers and flow out again into the surrounding
countryside. The only practical way to control the
growth of Northern Virginia is to control the growth
of the government itself—something this observer
believes would be a good end in itself unrelated to
sprawl and congestion. But who expects such a call
from our political leaders, or from the bulk of the
commuters struggling home at night from their
careers in the city, or from our civic leaders, or
from the smart growth advocates themselves? Until we
effect a change in our attitude toward government,
we should not take all this “smart growth” talk
very seriously.
William
C. Dennis is a member of the Board of Scholars of
the Virginia Institute for Public Policy, an
education and research organization headquartered in
Potomac Falls, Virginia.
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