Democrats Want To Tell You What Kind Of Car You Can Drive

Only they’re doing it under the guise of strong-arming the auto industry into “saving the environment.”

WASHINGTON – Democratic-controlled Washington stepped in to help save Chrysler nearly 30 years ago when the automaker was on the verge of bankruptcy due to lackluster sales of its fuel-thirsty vehicles.
With the Big Three struggling again, many political leaders now are taking Detroit to task for failing to do more to reduce how much gas their vehicles use. The Democratic presidential candidates are pledging tougher gas mileage rules. Automakers say such changes would hurt an industry already down.
But the political climate is turning against the companies. Concern is increasing about global warming. Pump prices are high. People are worried about U.S. dependence on oil from the Middle East.
“We’re talking about saving the auto industry from itself,” said Sen. Chris Dodd, who is proposing the highest increase of any presidential candidate.
Dodd, D-Conn., wants to double the average fuel economy for each automaker, from about 24 miles to per gallon today to 50 mpg by 2017.
“The industry just digs its heels in to fight any of these changes, but it’s hard to maintain a very sympathetic ear when you realize that other (foreign) automakers are moving” in the direction of more fuel-efficient vehicles and “devouring market share in the country,” Dodd said in a telephone interview. “Why aren’t we doing this?”

I think Senator Dodd is working on an erroneous assumption. Foreign automakers aren’t “devouring” market share in America because their cares are more fuel efficient. They’re “devouring” market share in America because America’s auto industry has been all but paralyzed by crippling wage-and-benefits mandates from thuggish labor unions. Unions the foreign car companies aren’t dealing with. Last time I checked, companies like Toyota and Honda were eating into Ford and GMC’s marketshare by moving outside of their compact car roots and into the truck and SUV market. And they’re succeeding because their vehicles are, frankly, better built by a labor force that isn’t beholden to its lower common denominator because of unions.
But all that aside, it’s pretty galling to see a group of politicians ostensibly telling Americans what kind of cars they can drive. Senator Dodd seems to think that we should all be driving vehicles that get 50mpg, but what if I don’t want a vehicle that gets that kind of gas mileage? What if I want or need a bigger, more powerful vehicle that only gets 20mpg? Is that not a freedom I should enjoy in this country?
Sure it’s not a right enshrined in the Constitution or anything, but isn’t choosing a vehicle to my liking without interference from a bunch of nannying politicians part of that whole “pursuit of happiness” thing?
You’d think so, but liberals like Sen. Dodd are never happy unless they’re telling you how to live your life.