Virginia Republicans claiming they care about good government.

Grover Norquist claiming he cares about anybody but himself.

Pat Robertson claiming God speaks to him.

The Sierra Club claiming it cares about ordinary Americans.

The Piedmont Environmental Council claiming it cares about ordinary Virginians.

do the Sierra Club and Piedmont Environmental Council not care about "ordinary" people?  You lost me there.

that you don't get it.

Both organizations have, for years, advocated policies which protect the precincts of privilege for their fat cat contributors through the adoption of snob zoning measures which exclude ordinary people from living near the swells and require those ordinary folks to commute hours on end each week to find a decent wage and an affordable house, all in the guise of protecting the environment.

LOL, if it weren't so disgusting.

That a so called progressive doesn't get this just demonstrates how disconnected some progressives are from the struggles of ordinary Americans.

I'm a "so called progressive" and "disconnected" because I don't immediately get what you're saying and ask for more information.  Also, the environmental groups in question are really bad because they don't do the things you want them to do. Wonderful.

who use their so called love of nature as a cover to take care of their rich members like the sweat heart real estate deals that the Nature Conservancy did with several of its Board members which were disclosed by the WaPost a year or two ago.

That you've forgotten these shananigans is evidence of your disconnectedness.

These groups don't care about the legitimate needs of ordinary folks for a decent wage and affordable single family detached housing close enough to their jobs that they get to see their kids before dark.

Snob zoning created artificial scarcity which drove up the price of housing which led in no small part to the subprime debacle that is about to ruin our economy.

Predatory lenders took advantage of the artificial scarcity created by PEC's snob zoning creations but it's the 50 acre minimum lot size, Bulova's tree save bill and other absurdities that are really to blame.

Just wow.

Don't forget that Sierra Club and PEC cause cancer, are responsible for worldwide genocide, support murderous drug gangs, and openly encourage racism, sexism, and religious discrimination.  They were clearly behind the 9/11 attacks, and have caused countless droughts, floods, and earthquakes.  They are the sole force behind poverty, illiteracy and AIDS.  They have secret human slave trading programs and force children to work in mines all over the world.  They invented transfats, cigarettes, and the internal combustion engine - just so it could pollute the atmosphere.  They torture animals both big and small just for fun and I hear they're are planning on buying Michael Vick's old dog fighting estate so they can reopen his business under new management.  They are responsible for traffic gridlock everywhere and the stock market crash of 1929.

Oh, and they caused the paper cut I got this morning.

Bastards!

We've heard these complete distortions from the Loudoun GOP for years, and it's a crock.

Land prices are what is driving housing costs up, not the costs of the homes.  The prices of land are rising because of market demand forces, not because of a shortage of supply.  There remain tens of thousands (probably more now that the market is stalled and construction has basically stopped) unbuilt homes that are available as supply, and with demand actually dropping significantly, the claim that changing the zoning of undeveloped land not yet approved for development is going to crimp the supply is bogus.

Long term in the DC region, yes there are absolutely supply-side problems, but these can also be more effectively address by changing growth patterns to reflect smart growth principles in reutilizing under-utilized areas with the city core, and close-in suburbs, especially near Metro.  If you don't think the market will support that, then you're out of touch with reality.

I wonder how many of the thousands and thousands of approved but unbuilt homes in Loudoun would be priced reasonably enough that your average working class person can afford to buy them?

Even with the downturn---answer:  not many.  The only housing available to most working class people (under $50K per year) are townhouses and condos.  Those McMansions are still running people more than $500K.  You aren't going to buy those if you're working class.

You see, the market DOES NOT solve all the problems.  Workforce housing regulations are absolutely critical to ensuring that enough working-class housing is being built in ALL redeveloped areas.

One other point---what do you think is driving the huge redevelopments in DC in downtown, Columbia Heights, and all over the city?  DEMAND for close-in housing!

There is a shortage of 79,000 single family houses in Loudoun County. Instead of providing a place for these working families, the prior Republican Board, at the behest of PEC and the Sierra Club, downzoned 3/4ths of the 540 square mile County into McMansion sized lots of 20 and 50 acre minimum lot size.

Snob zoning creates the high land prices by creating artificial scarcity. When supply doesn't meet demand, prices rise. In Loudoun's case, a three fold increase. There are not ten of thousands of unsold homes in an affordable price range for working families in Loudoun County. The few hundred unsold houses in Loudoun have fallen in price into the $300,000. Still need a family income over a $100,000 but two veteran FFX teachers have a chance to buy one of those houses. there just aren't 79,000 such houses in No Va.

Loudoun employees are commuting from Harrisburg, PA and Hardy County, WV in order to find a single family home they can afford. And when they go home at night they take their income taxes with them which should be going to Richmond to build the roads we need desperately in Northern Va.

For the last 50 years every market survey has shown that 80% of American families want a single family detached home. Smart growth jams these solid working folks into high rise multi-family closets. There is no way that 79,000 single family homes are going to be built by re-utiliziing under utilized ares in the city core and close-in suburbs especially near Metro. There's just not enough land there, even if you used 1/4 acre lots.

We need every multi-family unit we can get authorized for the 20% of families who want a multi-family unit. But the Sierra Club NIMBYs make that almost impossible. Just look at the problems Metro West had trying to build multi-family next to the Vienna Metro.

Democrats have to get over the automatic reflex that more regulation is always the answer. After all, it is was our fellow Democrat Carter who deregulated passenger airlines and enplanements soared because of the lower fares.

In this case, up-zoning only 50 square miles (less than a 10th of Loudoun's land area) for single family homes at the 3 dua level would make a real dent in the affordable housing problem.

As a life long Democrat and someone who tracts new home sales fairly closely, it is obvious to me that Doug in Mount Vernon needs to drive west of I-95 once in a while to find out what reality is.

Until our party addresses this housing shortage from the supply side and the side of working families, we will be viewed by those working families as elitist and out of touch.

So let's try another anology,

Doug, Eric and Lowell claiming to understand or care about the housing crisis facing ordinary workers in Northern Virginia.

And yes, the PEC and the Sierra Club are out of touch with the needs of ordinary working folks and have demonstrated no desire to address their legitimate need for single family detached housing in close proximity to their Loudoun and Fairfax jobs.  

That people should get what they want, how they want it, and at the price they want?  And any organization that gets in the way of any aspect, to even the slightest degree, of the me-me-me philosophy is elitist, self serving, and cares nothing for the "common man"?

Are you seriously blaming the high cost of housing in NOVA (and the DC area in general) on the Sierra Club and PEC?  Get a grip.

You repeat your mantra about single family residences that are affordable and require little commuting as if this is a God given right of every person.  That's completely unrealistic and quite frankly unnecessary.  Do I wish there were lower cost residences available for lower income (that being a relative term in the NOVA area) people and those looking to buy their first residence?  Sure.  But there's a BIG difference between being homeless and living in a townhouse or condo with an extra 30 minute commute.  Of course it isn't the ideal situation, but unless a person is rich they'll have to make trade offs.  

Like yourself, I've actually been disturbed by the lack of smaller, affordable housing - and I have noticed a distinct lack of reasonable single family homes.  But this has nothing to do with 50 acre minimum lot sizes.  The developers only build 4,000+ sq ft single family homes with all the luxuries they can pack in.  Why?  Is it because of the Sierra club?  Hell no - it's profits, plain and simple.  It has little to do with zoning and much to do with what makes the most money for developers (with the other side, luxury condos, being the high density money makers).  The middle ground, small, basic, affordable single family homes on small lots (but they would have their own backyard - with a white picket fence) aren't where the money is at.  Demand is there, but not profits.

And finally, I'll leave you with this story...  Last Fall I was flying out of Dulles and the plane took the Northeast route - flying over a chunk of Loudoun, crossing the Potomac, and then into Maryland.  Looking out the window when the plane was still in Virginia all I saw was subdivision after subdivision of single family homes.  It was sprawl and development as far as the eye could see (at 5,000 feet).  Crossed the Potomac and... a farm here or there.  The extreme contrast was unmistakable and quite memorable.  So to say that someone, anyone, any organization, is successfully standing in the way of development in Loudoun is flat out wrong.

proving my points for me.

The Loudoun snob zoning scheme is 1000% a PEC invention.

So you support decent, affordable housing for the homeless but not for working families. What would any populist do with that? Average working folks have to take the crumbs the Sierra Club leaves them. That doesn't sound elitist at all, right?

You oppose decent affordable housing in close proximity to jobs. We're talking an extra hour to 90 minutes to Hardy County WV or Harrisburg PA. Break out map.  Use Mapquest of Google maps.

And this "time tax" on working families should be impose for what grand and glorious public purpose - to preserve the enclaves of the privilege from encroachment of the "rif-raf" who work hard, play by the rules, pay their taxes and help their kids with homework every night.

Only an elitist would say that helping working families to get a single family house close to their job is "unnecessary." If they live closer to their jobs, their commute generates less air pollution. less traffic congestion and more income tax revenue for the Commonwealth.  And you oppose this why, so your view out an airplane is more pleasing to you. Wow!

Is there a Democrat who denies that decent affordable single family housing is as close to a necessity as there exists? You know the three basics of life: food, clothing and SHELTER. No one said it's a right but it's a public good, a highly desirable and valued good, and its a higher good than an airline passenger's 90 second view out his window.

Lots of builders make lots of money building subdivisions full of small affordable housing when the zoning lets them. Loudoun zoning won't let them. But if snob zoning only lets builders build  a small number of too big houses that are highly sought after by large numbers of buyers, any rationale entrepreneur will maximize their profits on the few houses they get to build.

If you took the northeast route out Dulles you were over Loudoun for about 90 seconds. Get out of the clouds and drive around the area north of Dulles and you'll find those home are 18 to 40 years old, are already occupied and won't be meeting the needs of the 79,000 new Loudoun employees/families who will need housing in the future. Unless you're proposing they double up with families in the existing houses so as not spoil your view.

Senator Macaca claims to love people of color.

Governor Kaine claims to care about Northern Virginians and their transportation problems.

Re Dominion Power. Perhaps no one company has more control over the quality of the air we breathe and the survival of mountains we love. As long as Dominion remains a Luddite corporate toxin committed to raping mountains for electricity this Commonwealth will never have sound energy policy.
Two questiions for Dominion:
1) How many mountaintops will the Wise power plant destroy until the coal runs out?
2) What will you do for fuel when, as USGS predicts, Appalachian coal runs out within 15-20 years??

Oh yea, and Dominion calling itself an environmental steward is like Rush Limbaugh claiming he's a liberal or John McCain saying he's a man of peace.

Of course Dominion is going to claim its a good environmental steward.   And Phillip Morris needs to market itself as advocating for better public health.   And sure all of us progressives will accuse them of being hypocrites (they are).  

The question to me is, "how do our elected officials defend us against this public misinformation".   So Dominion protects a few acres of land.  What about our air?  Our mountains?  We've got a warning on cigarettes.  Why not on coal?

As for Martin Lomasney points, all groups have issues, and I'm not disputing that you may have some valid criticism.  Not speaking about any of the groups you mentioned, we do need more advocacy groups keeping their distance from big companies and big money.  And we need to remember who we are fighting for.