Every now and then I see something so good and so important that I think the entire public service of this newsletter could be summed up by saying “watch this” or “read that.” So, here goes. Watch this, especially the first seven minutes:

If you’re a progressive reader, and you live in a blue state, you might be cringing right now. The first half of the video—produced by the New York Times—is a devastating indictment of housing policy, especially the way in which all too many progressive cities have locked poor and middle income families out of affordable housing and essentially closed off entire cities to affordable development. 

Now here’s another New York Times product, this time an episode of the podcast The Daily that talks about the devastation done to the African American Tremé neighborhood in New Orleans after the construction of the Claiborne Expressway, a road precipitated by the massive highway construction that followed the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956.

When people press me to identify my ideology, the answer depends on the sophistication of the audience. When I’m casually talking to someone I just met, and they ask me about where I stand politically, I’m not going to say, “I’m a libertarian-leaning pro-life classical liberal.” The best-case response is someone thinking, “Nerd!” Worst-case, you’ll come across as some sort of pretentious ass. So I just say “conservative” and see where things go.