Another core obstacle to reform is what author Joel Kotkin calls Democratic "regressives" – so-called liberals, or progressives, who are mainly interested in protecting their quality of life by knocking various rungs off the economic ladder for the state's working class and growing minority communities. He refers to the wealthy liberal elites who live predominantly in high-end coastal communities and who fight economic growth, impose absurd restrictions on land use and whose excessive environmental sensibilities are regulating businesses out of existence.