CAVE People
CAVE People (an acronym for Citizens Against Virtually Everything) is a pejorative acronym for citizen activists who regularly oppose any changes within a community. The phenomenon is linked to the so-called NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) phenomenon in which residents oppose a development as being inappropriate for their local area.
While the NIMBY phenomenon is typically related to development issues, CAVE people, as the name implies, oppose virtually everything. This may manifest itself in opposition to changes in public policy questions as varied as tax levies, sewer rates, public transportation routes, parking regulations and municipal mergers or annexations. "CAVE People" often express their views by attending community meetings, writing letters to the local newspaper, or calling in to talk radio shows.
History
A reference to the term "CAVE dwellers" can be found at the Orlando Sentinel.[1] The term was used by the author of the original article Is latest criticism worthwhile talk or just worthless?, published September 30, 1990. The article references another unnamed source, indicating that the term existed even before the publication of the referenced article.