Free Will Denial

I suspect that a large fraction of left-wing ideology comes from a denial of free will: the belief that free will either does not exist or is valueless. That can have several effects:

1. If free will does not exist at all, there is little point in defending the right to make your own decisions. If something is desirable, it must be compulsory; if it is undesirable, it must be forbidden.
2. I've already discussed the effects of the belief that free will only applies to pointless actions.
3. If an individual's free will cannot affect his/her economic status, anybody rich got that way from ‘society’ (“You didn't build that…”) and the wealth can be redistributed.
4. Finally, if the combined free wills of all of humanity cannot cause anything good, then either economic growth does not exist or it has bad effects (e.g., global warming).

Harvey and Zoning Laws

Houston is noteworthy for the lack of zoning. Houston is also noteworthy for a $100 billion flood. Some people insist on connecting the two. Apparently, the riffraff moving in produce floods.

Let's do some arithmetic on the cost of Harvey. It's approximately $15,000 per resident of the Houston metropolitan area. Let's compare housing costs in Houston with housing costs in New York City (where the zoning plague started). The monthly rent for 85 \(\text{m}^2\) (900 Sqft) furnished accommodation in NORMAL area in New York City is $2,828. The monthly rent for a similar apartment in Houston is $1,228. In other words, the Hurricane Harvey cost as much as the additional rent for ten months.

A Note on Overpopulation

At the population density of The Netherlands (a food exporter, believe it or not), we can support 60 billion people on Earth … four times that if we cover the seas with greenhouse ships.