Being Taken for a Ride...................from Rico

Automotive atrocities like the "Gremlin" or the Pacer" are still with us in the form of "government mandated" vehicles.

- Government safety and efficiency fatwa's have only succeeded at making cars increasingly more expensive, smaller, more technology-laden, and not least...equally fugly.

 

In a word: New cars SUCK.

 

While the debt-burdened consumer is being blamed for the current dismal performance of the US automobile market, the "gooberment factor" is rarely mentioned.

 

Fleet sales for Fiat-Chrysler are down 26%, and for Ford down 35%, and US auto sales for July 2017....well, they sucked almost as hard as the current designs.

- More expensive, fuglier cars, just aren't being snapped-up by John Q. Public like they used to be.

 

WHY ARE AUTO SALES DOWN? Could auto sales actually be in the tank because of government-mandated s-a-f-e-t-y technology?

 

Well, speaking for myself, I do NOT want any of the "new" cars currently on offer. I do NOT want a twin-turbo 1.8L small block 4-banger with more technology than the Apollo Lunar module.

- I do NOT want the internet in my car,

- or touch screen,

- or steering assist,

- or self-parking,

- or cameras,

- or eco-mode that turns off the car at stop lights,

- or buttons/dials for Park-Drive-Reverse,

- or pedestrian detection,

- or automatic emergency braking,

- or lane departure warning,

- or touch-button start.

I just want to drive my car myself without a computer doing it for me.

 

WHAT IS THE 'POINT' OF ALL THIS STUPIDITY? Make no mistake, there is a 'point' to all this seeming folly and a purpose and goal. The government's WAR ON CARS is a WAR ON FREEDOM.

- There used to be a 'right' for individuals to travel freely and at will. To go where you wanted, and when you wanted. The automobile is the modern extension of that individual right.

 

PREPARE TO WALK. Driving your own vehicle is seen as a 'privilege' that government control-freaks want to take away from individuals. Freedom of movement? Can't be having any of that! Enter the self-driving car!

- Programmed self-driving cars will take you only where government gives you permission to go, and only when that permission is granted.

 

The restriction of freedom of movement has been underway for some time, nudging people into using 'public' transportation [read: government transportation].

- I've lived places where you walked to the bus stop in the rain and/or snow and then waited for the bus; and I've both walked to, and waited for, for a train in the rain and/or snow. Cold, wet, windy, and inconvenient...and not for my convenience, for the governmen'ts convenience. Trains and buses stopped their service at a certain time (pm) and resumed at a certain time (am), and lucky you if you didn't pay attention to the time...you stayed put.

- There is always the culturally enriching experience of riding the subway, too...crime, filth, sitting or standing in someone else's puke. Yeah, you'll be better for it...just don't bring the kids.

- Quick personal errands? Fuggedaboudid...the time wasted to "save the planet" [read: for government control of your movement] will increase exponentially, unless you're a politician or somehow 'connected' and exempt from mandated travel restrictions.

 

Oh, and be certain to carry your papers with you...just in case you are "asked" to produce them.

- Maybe you should get RFID "chipped" for convenience, the government's convenience, not yours.