Thomas Jefferson once predicted that when American governments “get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe.” His predictions have largely come true. For easier access to more clients, networking opportunities, capital investment and a wide variety of services, city dwellers give up a great deal of their independence. They don’t own enough land to be self-sufficient and they’re surrounded by people in the same situation. In more rural environments, not everyone has a farm or a garden, but they have the option. Likewise, they’re closer to the people who do grow food. In most cities, food must be imported.
So, by their nature, cities must be centralized. To support a bunch of people who can’t support themselves, there need to be lots of goods and services around. Of course, the more complex something is, the more vulnerable it is to disruption. To keep the system running smoothly, it must be protected. Well, it’s easier to be anonymous in a city. Why is this relevant?
Simply put, the concentration of sinful human beings, many of whom are complete strangers to each other, leads to higher crime. It’s easier to mug someone when you don’t know them. In such an environment, governments grow and take a much larger role in everyday life. Over time, people in the city become dependent. In exchange for comfort, they give up their personal responsibility. Cities are fundamentally insecure, vulnerable places. They entice people to give up traditional life, the hard work of agriculture, building families and participating in a community, with the promise of greater wealth and power.
Fortunately, technology has made the advantages of cities, access to more people, more information and more money, irrelevant. Information, capital and networking are no longer bound by geography. The so-called digital economy has empowered companies to operate far from cities. Indeed, many employees can work from the comfort of their own homes. This trend has already started to hurt cities. In fact, the populations of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago shrank in 2018. The combination of online working, high taxes and costly regulations have made cities very unattractive.
In my younger days, I wrote about the rise and fall of Detroit. The book still holds up pretty well, although I’m a lot more favorable to economic protectionism now than I used to be. Regardless, the main takeaway was that the Bible provides the foundation for a society in which people are free to create and enjoy wealth. In the United States, widespread rejection of the biblical worldview ushered in an era of trust for bigger government. In cities, the government replaced God. Over time, the high taxes, burdensome regulations and rising crime pushed sane people to move. With the digital revolution in full swing, don’t expect cities to recover anytime soon.