"As goes New Jersey, so goes the world" -- very interesting article from Mother Jones on what "smart growth" means these days, in a world of both anti-sprawl and anti-smart-growth activism. Yes, there are apparently people (mostly mall developers and spittle-flecked libertarians, it seems) who think traffic calming and planned growth are "not the American way." Uh, just because that's true, doesn't make it a good idea. Having recently driven through some seriously dispiriting sprawl in the heartland, I feel compelled to link to "Patio Man and the Sprawl People," a great piece by David Brooks on this very phenomenon.