"people, universally, want the best product available"
Maybe I'm not a person, but I almost always pick one of the cheaper if not cheapest option. Rarely, if ever, do I care enough to get the best of anything...
No, this guy (the writer of the article) has no idea what he’s talking about. I say this as someone isn’t even on the left.
He sets a false dichotomy to protect himself from criticism. Zoning/building codes being too strict and monopolies existing in that market aren’t incompatible.
It’s worth noting that there’s a lot of money behind this abundance movement or whatever, so that’s something to take into account when reading this stuff.
You should read a bit more beyond Wikipedia. It’s a far, far more complicated and interesting story than you’re portraying it to be.
The Catholic Church actually initially funded Copernicus and was interested in his findings, but this was the reformation and counter-reformation, so that context is extremely important as to why their stance changed.
What they did to Giordano Bruno, on the other hand, is a massive stain on the church.