Smart Growth:

An issue which we have failed to have substantively constructed in the public sector is: what are the goals of growth and development in our society. If we as a society, finally, are to look at improving qualitatively as well as quantitatively, what would "smart growth" look like going forward. This is NOT an advocation of a planned society or a manifesto against free markets and capitalism. 

History has shown, and Americans inherently understand, that free markets work. Any assertion to the contrary is nonsense. Capitalism, conducted with democracy through the vehicle of constitutional liberalism, has produced the greatest opportunity, flexibility, freedom and social stability in human history. End of story.

However, capitalism doesn't by definition, prove to be what we practice here in America, although we would like to think otherwise. America's fixation with the '50's/Cold War era understanding of creative destruction, and the unfettered pursuit of abundance is frankly unsustainable in the face of modern realities, namely because, our pursuit of economic growth presently flies in the face (or frankly violates) of the first rule or use of economics: which is the study of the use of scarce resources which have numerous alternative uses and applications. Simply stated, we as consumers and citizens, have little or no understanding of the scarcity or true value of the goods and services which propel our attitudes, spending, life styles and personal conduct. 

We have dwelled in the age of supply side economics for so long (nearly 30 years) that we have artificially generated demand beyond the ability that our wages, global resources, healthful living standards, or quality of lifestyles can substantiate. Capitalism works, but it needs to be a balanced dance between supply and demand. The demand side of the equation needs robust improvement, largely in the qualitative sense. Like checks and balances in our government, consumer demand makes capitalism and modern complex economic systems work. But to do so effectively and efficiently, capitalism needs the demand side of the equation to be as smart and function as well as the supply side does. 

Instead, we consumers, have acted like cattle at the feeding trough, which is to say, consuming whatever is put in front of us: whether that is TVs, computers, food, brands, ideas, etc.

Because of our lack of intelligence, education, and general gumption, our consumerism has led us to a point where our society has proved to be thoroughly leveraged: both in public and private debt considerations. The demand side needs to exercise it's corrective power over markets. And that means smart growth: growth focused on sustainability, global opportunities, quality of life, and the awareness of the ramifications of our choices both generationally and for our one human family. 

The American model of cradle to grave product cycles, unfettered growth and rampant consumerism is destroying our planet. And under those circumstances, supply and demand will eventually become less relevant as an economic theory and become an all consuming matter of basic sustenance. Without changes in our most basic philosophies, all development will suffer: people, businesses, families, societies, corporate earnings, and anything else which so grandly headlines our news and attention, when mindful living did not. Look at your living now and say this isn't the case to the contradiction of your own reason.