DRIVING AMERICA BACK INTO THE FUTURE

"Ike’s Grand Plan"
As we sit stuck in our cars wasting away our lives in oppressive and burdensome gridlock, have you ever wondered what happened to those magnificent freeways of yesteryear when the very mention of their name conjured up the proud spirit of America’s freedom, independence and prosperity?  

And for the motorists who do remember those long-lost but enviable driving conditions of yore, you’ll recollect that there were no carpool lanes. Instead, these were the efficient “fast lanes” for long-distance and high-speed traveling, whether you drove alone or with passengers.  

This bold interstate freeway system was the fulfilled vision of President Eisenhower’s “Grand Plan” of more than a half-century ago. During this era of great American progress, each and every motorist had equal access and an equal opportunity to participate and benefit from the greatness of these forward-thinking freeways.

The American Dream
Back then, the American automobile manufacturers designed and built our cars to match our freeways, which were grand, powerful, safe, and liberating. It was a unique time with unique cars with names like Buick Roadmaster, Pontiac Bonneville, Chrysler Imperial and Lincoln Continental. The grand cars of this grand era also matched the American ideal of personal independence and high-performance achievement, as living out the great American dream didn’t get any better than this. This unparalleled success prompted Elvis Presley to proudly proclaim, "Ambition is a dream with a V-8 engine."

The American Nightmare
Unfortunately, over the past three decades and at the behest of self-serving special interest groups, our government stopped designing and building grander, better, safer and more liberating freeways.  Instead, it appointed itself as the chief architect of America’s new cars and dictated and enforced strict rules and regulations upon the auto makers to build smaller, less powerful, less safe and more restrictive automobiles to match the frailty of our overcrowded, obsolete, sluggish, unsafe and under-performing freeway system.

As a result, government eventually forced the automotive industry to build smaller gas-electric hybrid vehicles in order to increase fuel mileage to offset the enormous waste of gasoline due to traffic congestion and gridlock. Consequently, as part of a prejudicial campaign to sell more of these cars that it wanted Americans to drive, our government rewarded hybrid buyers with generous tax credits, free public parking and special driving privileges on the carpool lane, even if they have no passengers.  All of this was done at the burdened and unjust expense of those who choose not to own or cannot not afford one of these government-sanctioned cars.  

Today, our government is shamelessly declaring that this is true American progress. To the contrary, our freeways and our cars have seriously regressed and the American Dream has been replaced with the American nightmare of miserable driving conditions in cars we do not want to drive.

Equal Opportunity For All
Make no mistake; our Founding Fathers would not even recognize this once free Republic of equal opportunity that they established in our behalf.  Instead, they would be appalled at how today’s politicians reward one group of motorists while punishing another group on a public-funded freeway, based simply on an individual’s choice of vehicle or passenger preference.  

Under a true democracy, public freeways would be built and available for equal access and use by all licensed motorists alike. Andrew Jackson summed up America’s intended democracy this way: "Equal opportunity for all and special privileges for none."

Nonetheless, the discriminatory reward of the privileged carpool lane or the punishment of the general use lanes as dictated by our government continues to be one of America’s most disgraceful injustices.  The only solution is "equal opportunity freeways" by offering the same equal access, equal treatment and equal opportunity for all licensed motorists on all of America’s public-funded freeway facilities at all times.

The Pollution Solution: Reduce Gridlock
It’s common knowledge that all vehicles emit fewer pollutants and burn less gasoline when traveling at a faster and steadier speed on all lanes instead of driving very slow in stop-and-go traffic. Consequently, gasoline waste and pollution buildup are simply the result of cars sitting idle in gridlock traffic and has very little to with the kind of vehicles we drive or whether we have a passenger or not.  

Instead of dictating what kind of car it wants us to drive or to rideshare or carpool, government should stick to its own responsibility of building the public freeways we need to freely mobilize all licensed motorists alike. Then, let the free market dictate as to what kind of car our citizens want to choose for their own personal interests instead of being forced upon by group-think special interests. It worked before and it can work again.

Increase MPH not MPG
Even if government took out a magic wand and converted every one of our cars into hybrid vehicles, we’d still have the same massive bumper-to-bumper traffic congestion. And all hybrid vehicles would get far less gas mileage from being stuck in hopeless gridlock.  It’s a no-win situation

While it is commendable that some hybrid cars get 50 to 60 miles per gallon, what we really need are more freeways that allow all of our cars to travel at least 50 to 60 miles per hour.

Just think how much more productive we would be in our jobs and careers and how much more quality time we could spend with our family and friends.  Think how much more progress and prosperity there would be in America if each of us could better use our 24 hours instead of wasting a great portion of it in torturous gridlock.

As long as we are sitting idle in gridlock traffic, we are not producing anything, buying anything, or selling anything. We are simply wasting time and gasoline while simultaneously polluting the air.  And it is government’s fault!

Moving America Forward
Will Rogers famously remarked about the mishaps of government: "If stupidity got us into this mess, then why cant it get us out?"  He also said, "I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts."

It’s a fact that government got us into this gridlock mess and it’s not a laughing matter. Instead, it’s time to restore freedom of mobility for all motorists by demanding that our government get out of the automobile industry and get back into the "highway planning" business and build a modern, super-efficient, equal-opportunity "Grand Freeway" system. It worked before and it can work again.

To move America forward will require the old-fashioned American ingenuity of thinking grander, better, smarter and more productively so that we can build a major freeway infrastructure that will mobilize our motorists more freely and effectively than ever imagined. That’s the American way!

It’s time to go back to the successful concept that worked when government did its job of building grand freeways so that the American automobile industry can once again build grand cars to match the greatness of our freedom of mobility.  We must restore the great American dream and move America forward with true progress again.