Context: The United States has a region called Cancer Alley. Flint, Michigan is known nationwide, maybe globally, as a place where water is poisoned. We’re “solving” that problem with bottled water, which poisons others, so it’s more like kicking the can down the road. Actually, by accelerating a cultural distrust in municipal water, it accelerates bottling, so it’s more like accelerating a snowball or avalanche.
Nobody consents to cancer, birth defects, or lacking access to clean water.
The founding principle of our government being based on the consent of the governed couldn’t be more clear:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
People call themselves YIMBY or NIMBY about various things like where to put roads, more housing, and other infrastructure. I can’t speak to every case, but I can speak to some things, like things that cause cancer, birth defects, and unsafe drinking water. If refining plants cause cancer or birth defects, which no one consents to, to put them in anyone’s back yard violates a major principle this nation is founded on: the consent of the governed.
Another principle this nation is built on, and society depends on, is protecting life, liberty, and property. If something destroys life, liberty then a government permitting it—profiting from it—violates this principle.
Such things in anyone’s back yard or within range to cause problems no one consents to violate this nation’s principles. The original intent of this nation’s founders and its founding documents are clear: those things must not be in anyone‘s back yard.
It’s tempting to say, “But we need oil refineries and highways like the Cross Bronx Expressway.” We think we need them. They may be necessary for our lifestyles, but not for our lives. Many people can’t imagine life without plastic or flying, but that’s a failure of their imagination. Humans lived healthier, safer, more secure lives for 250,000 years without them. That failure of imagination results from our culture’s lack of hands-on practical experience.
Read my weekly newsletter
On initiative, leadership, the environment, and burpees
Success! Please check your email to confirm your subscription.
Why you drink bottled water When I was a kid, America considered bottled water froufrou---a European luxury. Now many people prefer bottled water. They don't…
