A quiet but profound revolution is taking place in suburban America, affecting the way people there think about government, taxes, property rights, the free market, and the idea of community itself, and it is being sparked by that most mundane of phenomena: the traffic jam.

Last year, during a visit to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, I got a firsthand look at the underside of globalization. Located across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, Juárez is home to more than 400 plants known as maquiladoras. Here, workers assemble parts sent by foreign companies--mainly U.S.-based corporations--for subsequent export. Most of the plants are located in industrial parks guarded by tall metal fences that insulate them from the grit and tumult of the surrounding city. The maquiladoras provide tens of thousands of jobs, helping to give Juárez one of Mexico's lowest unemployment rates.