One Size Doesn't Fit All

For John, BLUF:  The idea of allowing action to be taken at the lowest practical level has been part of our nation from early in our history.  On the other hand, we have had, in our history, people who think they have the solution(s) to problems and those solutions should be imposed on the dull people at the local level.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Team Trump just called a halt to the Obama-era war on American suburbs

From The New York Post, by former Westchester County Executive Robert P Astorino, 14 February 2020.

Here is the lede plus three:

President Trump gets credit — and takes heat — for many things, but many folks don’t even know about one of his best accomplishments: blocking the federal government’s power grab for control of America’s suburbs.

During the Obama administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development tried to install Washington bureaucrats as the decision makers for how communities across all 50 states should grow.  Using an obscure rule called Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, HUD sought to remake America’s cities, towns and villages by forcing any community that was getting federal funds to meet racial quotas.

To do this, HUD applied the notion of “disparate impact,” which unilaterally deems housing patterns to be discriminatory if minority representation is not evenly spread across the jurisdiction.  Communities with high concentrations of minorities are automatically labeled segregated.

Westchester served as the petri dish for HUD’s “grand experiment.” On Jan. 1, 2010, the day I was inaugurated as county executive, a federal consent decree signed by my predecessor went into effect requiring Westchester to spend at least $56 million to build 750 units of affordable housing over the next seven years in 31 white communities — or face crippling financial penalties.

We need to fight racism and segregation, so we can build toward that City on a Hill, a New Jerusalem.

The flip side of the issue is the retarding impact of a one size fits all bureaucratic approach.  Let us say a kind word for those working to reduce the burden of Federal over-regulation.

One problem with one size fits all is that it tends to impede the socialization necessary to achieve real change, the change we need in our hearts.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff