Must everything look, taste and feel the same? Is there some constitutional imperative to transform the 48 contiguous states into a giant strip mall? Must we all live on postage-stamp sized lots in houses that are neither too large, nor too small?
It sure feels that way in the Northeast, where open space is at a premium, and land is dear. Developers see a couple hundred acres of land, and have visions of cash registers. Now they are constitutionalizing this madness in the name of equal protection.
In East Lyme, Connecticut, sits a 700 acre parcel known as Oswegatchie Hills. It overlooks the Niantic River. Developers see 350 homes sitting there. And to make this nightmare come true, they promise "affordable housing." The oddest couple? A developer cheek by jowl with a civil rights lawyer. Let's make the equal protection clause a safe investment.
Why not scootch the zoning process, intimidate town fathers when some high-falluting constitutional litigation?
I fail to see why each and every town in each and every state should be required to provide housing that each and every American can afford. I don't care to reside in Clockwork America, where each family huddles in cinderblock cubicles of exaclty the same size and dimension.
Open space is expensive to preserve. Not everyone can afford to do it, and not everyone wants to do it. Solution? Let those who want to hug trees and make nice to salamanders live near to one another, if they can afford to. If not? Why, then they can move to yet another crowded, congested, chockablock strip-mall infested suburb.
When guests come to my house, the first thing we do is walk to admire the trees: Weeping beech, copper beech, active chestnut, horse chestnut, Japanese pine, even fig trees are our proudest possessions. They sit on a lot of land, where they have room to breath, and so do we.
Along comes some writ-toting civil rights lawyer, of which I am one, and I see the trees shudder. Shall we cut them down to make room for a few more three-bedroom ranch houses? Not in my lifetime. The right to equality does not mean everything must look the same.
