> wealthy landholders vote in people who set policy to prevent construction
This is a problem specific to a type of federalism where wealthy people have more political power than regular people. If each renter had equal political power to each landholder, the landholders would be a political minority and would not be able to influence policy in this way.
When we talk about theoretical improvements to our political systems, it is often useful and I think usually necessary to consider that more than one change would occur at once. If people like where these changes would get us, we can then bring them in to one policy platform and advocate for the change needed to achieve those goals.
Sure. It’s not a complete solution, and there could be schemes to deal with this. But much of the issue with NIMBY-ism comes from the outsized influence of land owners in the political process. Even if outsiders can’t vote, regular renters are more likely to favor building extra capacity than landholders are. But I also believe in other schemes, not pure local politics, which would address these issues more completely.
This is a problem specific to a type of federalism where wealthy people have more political power than regular people. If each renter had equal political power to each landholder, the landholders would be a political minority and would not be able to influence policy in this way.
When we talk about theoretical improvements to our political systems, it is often useful and I think usually necessary to consider that more than one change would occur at once. If people like where these changes would get us, we can then bring them in to one policy platform and advocate for the change needed to achieve those goals.