QotD: Air Pollution

These days a haze still lingers over the heart of Los Angeles, but you need some distance and elevation to make it out. There are days when the wind and weather collaborate that shine crisp and clear. Even though the automobile population of Los Angeles has more than quintupled since my childhood, a great deal of progress has been made in smog control and reduction. Compared to my childhood, the air of Los Angeles is pure and pristine.

Alas, to the Progressives of today, all this progress is no progress at all. A Progressive is a person for whom any improvement shy of perfection is no improvement whatsoever. Automobiles remain. Pollution remains. Los Angeles remains. Curses, foiled again!

Gerard van der Leun, "The Hybridization of America", American Digest, 2005-10-12