The purported goal of land-use regulations, such as Austin’s CodeNext, is to plan the development within a community. On the surface, this seems like a reasonable goal. After all, we are often told that a business that fails to plan is a business that is planning to fail.
But government isn’t a business. Governments and businesses operate in a fundamentally different way.
Businesses operate by consent and the voluntary choices of others. A business must attract workers by offering terms and conditions that employees find acceptable. A business must attract customers by offering a product that consumers find acceptable for the price. If a business fails to satisfy employees and consumers, it will cease being a business.
In contrast, government operates by coercion. Everything government does is based on force—prohibiting or mandating certain actions.
When a business plans, it is identifying a goal and the means for achieving it. But success depends on the voluntary choices of countless others. In contrast, a government plan succeeds by forcing individuals to act in accordance with the plan. The difference between a business plan and a government plan is the difference between the voluntary and the coercive.
The principle underlying a government plan is that the individual (or business) must sacrifice his plan to that of the community. Depending on the plan, an individual might be prohibited from executing his plan to build affordable housing. He might be denied the freedom to create a mixed-use property. He might be forced to rehabilitate a dilapidated building in the name of historic preservation. The government’s plan overrides the individual’s plan.
Consider how you would react if your plans were always subject to government approval. What if your plans for retirement, your children’s education, or your vacation required the approval of bureaucrats? Would you be happy? Would you fight for the right to make plans for your own life?
The divisiveness over CodeNext is the result of some wanting to impose their values on the entire community. Some want their plans to become law and force all of Austin to live by those plans. The results are no surprise.