Curb Your Enthusiasm Liberalism

Why YIMBYs won, and the struggle against mindless activism

I’ve got a new article up at UnHerd on the recent YIMBY victory in California, addressing a topic I’ve been thinking quite a bit about, which is the resistance to the abundance agenda. Politicians seem to love it, as it inspires scorn among a certain type of professional leftist.

In a landmark political and ideological victory, California Governor Gavin Newsom has successfully pushed through changes to the state’s notoriously obstructionist environmental law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), among other housing and building reforms. This was done over the objections of many within his own political coalition. The breakthrough represents more than a policy shift on an issue of fundamental importance. Rather, it reflects a generational and intellectual realignment within American liberalism, and one that teaches us something about the nature of how power is exercised.

The fight over housing reform exposed a deep divide between the elite discourse-shaping class — those aligned with YIMBYism and the new “abundance” movement — and the older, activist-driven wing of liberalism that is parochial and operating on autopilot, directed by the concerns of a previous era. This latter group primarily wants to preserve local control and community character, even if it comes at the cost of affordability and housing availability. Animated by habit and identity and disconnected from wider debates taking place, it has long stood in the way of reform…

These people are evergreen activists, far from the intellectual currents of their own party. We may call them practitioners of Curb Your Enthusiasm liberalism. One of the recurring themes in the early seasons of the show was Cheryl Hines, Larry David’s wife, dragging him to charity events and parties with do-gooder activists. The class her friends represented were mocked for their vapidity and virtue signalling. In “The Anonymous Donor,” for example, Larry is vilified for wanting public credit for his donation, while another donor who goes by “anonymous” is celebrated, even as it turns out that he made sure his identity was whispered throughout social gatherings.

Probably not accidentally, since art is often an exaggerated portrayal of real life, the actress who played Cheryl Hines is married to RFK Jr, who spent much of his life an anti-development environmental activist before becoming better known for his views on vaccines and public health. It’s tempting to speculate that such activists might begin to feel more at home among the GOP in the future, given that RFK is now part of the Trump administration, and some of the most strident resistance to YIMBYism in blue states comes from Republican politicians.

Read the whole thing here

My interest in writing this piece came out of me trying to develop my understanding of the left, what it wants, the different factions within it, and how it functions. I’ve been on the right for most of my adult life, and so I’ve spent more time thinking about that side of the political spectrum. Conservatism is also much simpler, and therefore easier to understand.

In understanding their political opponents, conservatives have been limited by their human capital deficit in the same way they have on other issues. Most right-wing approaches tend to be homogenizing, with grand theories about an unchanging and evil monster who wants to turn your kids gay as the manifestation of an impulse to destroy all that is good and innocent, or it seeks power for its own sake. It’s hard to imagine theories more wrong.

There is more danger in generalizing about the left than the right because the former is more diverse, and has a wide array of complex institutions, along with artists and intellectuals. This is especially true in recent years, during which conservatism has mostly become whatever Trump says it is, meaning that once you understand the psychology of one man and his connection to his audience, you’re approaching an understanding of the entire story.

But liberals? How do these people all wake up one day and seemingly decide that trans children are everywhere, and this is so settled that no one must dare question this fact? We saw a change this radical, and most educated people couldn’t even name a single prominent individual who was key in making it happen. Blame for what angers conservatives is heaped on Obama, Biden, and Hillary because they’re the most visible representatives of the Left, but they’re clearly not driving the car in the way that Trump has been for the last eight years or so.