| >Zoning is inherently authoritarian and an affront to individual liberty. > Parking tickets depends on whether they write citations for things that aren't harming anyone, like people parking unregistered stuff on the street where there's ample parking available. If you're enforcing minor laws just because they're there and forcing people to step in line when them doing whatever doesn't appear to be bothering anyone then that passes my duck test for authoritarianism. You've effectively painted all cities as authoritarian. If that's your position, fine, feel free to include Portland. But I still don't see any specific examples beyond has zoning, has police who might enforce its laws, etc. I think that becomes a very broad brush with which to paint anywhere that isn't rural as authoritarian, and I don't agree with you. > Frankly from the rest of your comments in here you're coming across like a masshole who thinks Portland is perfect Wrong on both counts. Portland has its issues, but I don't think heavy-handed enforcement of its many laws is one of them. Diversifying its economy away from tourism, and expanding its base away from 3-4 large, very legacy employers, would be two big ones in my mind. > They're from elsewhere and are of a different culture. Sounds like a reasonable definition of "outsider" to me. Authoritarians love in-groups and out-groups. Just a hop, skip, and jump to nationalism and fascism. Not everyone that moves into a place is going to want to change it to their ideal, but they're going to have their own perspectives, and I see no reason not to respect them. |