excerpt from a paper by Albert Bartlett published in Population
& Environment, Vol. 20, No. 1, September 1998, Pgs. 77 - 81.
REGIONWIDE PLANNING WILL MAKE THE PROBLEMS WORSE
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REGIONAL PLANNING DILUTES AND ULTIMATELY DEFEATS DEMOCRACY
What does regional planning do to democracy? In 1950 the
population of
the City of Boulder was 20,000. So when speaking to a member of the City
Council in 1950, a citizen of Boulder was one voice in 20,000. In 1998 the
population of Boulder is approximately five times larger, so one citizen of
Boulder in 1997 is one voice in 100,000. Population growth in Boulder
since 1950 has diluted democracy in Boulder by a factor of five! This is
bad enough. But look what will happen if we turn to regional planning as
we seek democratic ``solutions'' to the problems. If there are 300,000
people in the ``region,'' then, as seen by the individual citizen, regional
planning will further dilute democracy by another factor of three. If the
``region'' includes the metropolitan Denver counties with perhaps 2.5
million
population, one citizen of Boulder will be reduced to being only one voice
in 2.5 million! Then, to make things even worse, if regional planning is
``successful'', it will hasten the population growth in the region to 3, 4,
or even 5 million, with the corresponding further destruction of democracy.
For the individual, democracy is inversely proportional to the size
of the
participating population.
In an interview with Bill Moyers, Isaac Asimov made a very profound
observation:
Democracy cannot survive overpopulation.
The feedback is positive. Efforts that are made to use regional planning
to ``solve'' local problems cause the local problems to grow to be regional
problems.
Here's how it works.
1) Things that impede population growth are regarded as problems
that
must be solved.
2) It follows then that solving these problems aids and
facilitates
population growth.
One needs to remember Eric Sevareid's Law: ( Sevareid, 1970 )
The chief cause of problems is solutions.
Indeed, one can recognize a fundamental Law of Planning:
Planning in a community or region
can provide long-term solutions to community or regional problems
only if the planning causes, or is accompanied by,
a complete cessation of population growth in the community or region.
Human dignity cannot survive overpopulation.
Convenience and decency cannot survive overpopulation.
As you put more and more people onto the world,
The value of life not only declines, it disappears.
It does not matter if someone dies.
The more people there are, the less one person matters. ( Moyers, 1980 )
(snip)
