You should, at the very least, be concerned with the latest shenanigan Obama is trying to push. President Obama wants to put California in charge of mileage and emission standards for the rest of the country. This proposal completely rejects a 200 year-old form of government called Federalism which was abandoned by our forefathers. Obama proposes to create a situation where the most extreme of states makes the decisions and regulates the mileage and emission standards for the entire country.
Maybe he’s just going to put in place all the stupid stuff at the beginning of his term so that he can spend the rest of the four years making good decisions. That would make more sense if he intends to serve a second term. Or maybe his philosophy is to screw the country up completely in the first week or two and then blame everything on George W. Bush.
Contrary to the assertion that this is a free country, it has been our law for quite some time that the federal government gets to tell automobile manufacturers how many miles per gallon their vehicles may get and how much pollution they can emit. Something which seems like it should be a function of science, the marketplace and consumer demand has been replaced by federal government dictate.
This is all done in the name of protecting the environment or freeing us from oil or some other pretense which basically translates to nothing more than a smokescreen for another government power grab. The problem the liberals face, however, is that every now and then a Republican wins an election and so the fuel and emission standards stay within somewhat reasonable standards.
The Democrats would have everyone walk, ride bikes or use public transportation. For whatever reasons, private transportation seems to freak these people out. Perhaps their enmity toward freedom makes them resent the freedom Americans enjoy from getting in their own cars and going wherever they want. If there has to be cars, the Democrats figure, make them hybrids and plug-ins and give them a top speed of 40 mph and a range of 60 miles.
Again, I digress (I am still not quite sure what that word means – probably something like stop jabbering and get back on topic).
Back to the new president.
He called on the federal government to rethink its refusal to allow California to set its own highway and fuel standards. When California asked the Bush Administration for that right, to go outside the congressionally established system and put its own demands on vehicles sold in its state, the answer was a resounding "No." Now that Bush is out, such an idea sounds pretty good to Barack Obama. Have you noticed how he is systematically trying to reverse any policy set down by the Bush administration?
It is, of course, an idea that isn't practical. An idea which could easily push the car companies the rest of the way into bankruptcy. If it passes, it will impose the will of America's most liberal legislators onto the entire country and functionally gives California authority over every other state.
“How can this be?” you ask. Good question.
Answer -
Detroit can't engineer different cars for every state. Fuel efficiency is a function of a car's weight primarily, and you get better gas mileage by taking some of the metal off a car. It makes it more fuel efficient, but it also makes it more dangerous. Either way, a car company couldn't afford to make a car to California's standards, and then a car for everyone else's standards. Or maybe California would have one standard and Florida another and New York a third. Does anyone seriously think that it would be possible for any car company to tailor its products in such a specific way? Would assembly lines have to be completely retooled for each state? This is ludicrous, absurd, and it is simply not possible.
Car companies would have no choice. The state which came up with the highest standards would be the one that got to set the nation's standards. Especially if that state was California or New York -- two of the country's largest and most liberal states. No manufacturer could afford to lose either one of those markets, so they would comply.
That means that the California legislature, easily the most liberal in the country, trumps the U.S. Congress when it comes to vehicle standards. And it means that people who live in the other 49 states, who have no vote in California, will be burdened by the decisions of the California government.
That is nothing short of tyranny, a cunning manipulation which allows Barack Obama to cripple our car industry without having to take responsibility for doing so. The entire plan empowers the most extreme voices in our society, which is exactly what it is intended to do.
Further, it creates a competition among politicians and states, each eager to pretend they are some sort of national leader. Governors bucking to make names for themselves and Democrats hoping to gain national reputations for upping the ante of car standards.
It is chaos. It destabilizes our already endangered automobile industry. It will make cars more expensive. It will take choice away from consumers and power away from the people. This is exactly what Barack Obama wants to happen.
Maybe he's been inspired by Castro. All the subjects of the communist government in Cuba drive around in ancient cars. Maybe that's what they want for the subjects of the communist government of America. They're doing everything they can to make us a politically correct third world country.
And this idea is just the beginning. This guy still has four more years to go.
