Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly elect Democrats, but the party had a rude awakening when one of it pet projects — turning the suburbs into mere extensions of cities — was recently rejected.  Twice. 

In the western suburb of Newton, a city of 87,000 people that gave Donald Trump only 16.7 percent of its votes in 2020, a city councilor who had served for fourteen years was voted out of office last fall following her push to increase multi-family housing.  At a community meeting in the town’s Nonantum district, a less expensive neighborhood where 20 percent of the population is of Italian ancestry, residents were told that they couldn’t have backyards large enough for a swing set anymore.  “Are you kidding me?” a local real estate professional asked.  “That’s why people move to the suburbs.” ...

Those who hold the suburbs in contempt must face the fact that while the conventional wisdom may denounce them, a majority of Americans — 52 percent — choose to live in one.