Monday, June 13, 2016

Moving Away from Private Automobile Ownership

By Douglas V. Gibbs,
AuthorSpeakerInstructorRadio Host

Once the collectivists of the liberal left political ideology figures out a way to convince everyone that cars are more dangerous than tobacco, carbon dioxide, Christians, heterosexuality, or right-wing political beliefs, they will begin an anti-car campaign that will eventually rid us of those pesky pollution-makers.  That's why we haven't gotten our Jetson flying cars, yet.  Private ownership of any kind of conveyance is a danger to their narrative, so it would be ridiculous to allow people to fall in love with anything else, other than cars, which allows people to travel at will without being restricted by the benevolent dictators of the government's ruling elite.

Right now we see a flirtation with driverless cars, which may soon become a reality and a commonplace thing.  That is exactly what the liberal left desires.  Once folks no longer need to entertain the skill to drive, the journey away from private automobile ownership will be in full swing.

The ocean of cars we have on the planet now consumes resources, they tell us, and floods the planet with greenhouse gases which are among the alleged culprits for the worse-than-terrorism affliction we call man-made global warming. . . uh, I mean, Climate Change.

Various versions of the automobile plagues the entire planet.  For some it is a luxury, but for many it is a necessary part of their everyday lives.  However, we only use them a small portion of the day.  More than 90% of the time, our cars sit there, taking up precious space, not being utilized.  When we do use them, when they are in motion, they cause pollution.

The liberal left wants you to know that they are ready to come to your aid.  As the cost of cars and gasoline skyrockets, wouldn't it be nice if we could just share our cars with monorail type vehicles, or self-driving electric cars available at the call of a citizen.  Public shared ownership.  You know, like in a communal sort of way that would make Karl Marx proud.

The mode of conveyance can be vehicles reminiscent of buses, driver-less taxis, trains, and the sort, and you would summon them with an app on your phone.  The artificial intelligence receives your message, and zooms right up to where you're at.  No payment, or tip, to a driver would be necessary.  The system could be covered by tax dollars, or with a pay-per-mile system.  It's a wet-dream for the liberal left.

No more car payments.  No more repair bills, oil changes, or registration.  No more traffic jams.  No more gasoline pumps.  Government would cover everything at first. Then, eventually, they would insert, in addition to the few taxes you'll never see anyway, a few bucks for the miles (making the less-traveled happy because they don't have to spend the big bucks buying a car they won't use much, anyway).  No more seeking parking spaces, fighting for position at the airport, or worrying about going and getting mom from the old-folk's-home.  Key in the app, send a government controlled driverless conveyance to pick her up, and everyone is off and riding.

Today's car to future travelers may look like a rotary telephone does to us, someday.  The blind, elderly, and the folks who got in trouble and lost their driving privileges, would suddenly have independence to roam around, to go where they wish, to escape social isolation and have easier access to essential government services like the social services office, the welfare offices, and the food lines.

It'll be great, right?  Even the government can't screw this up, right?  We know they'd do a bang-up job. . . you know, just like they've done with Amtrak, Obamacare, and DMV offices.

Okay, fine, there might be a few disadvantages. . . you know, like a loss of freedom to go where we want, when we want, without the government or corporations knowing our every move.  Hey, just a minor loss for the privilege of having technology, right?  So, the joy of private ownership of a vehicle may be sacrificed, but we've been told that private ownership is overrated, right?  Turn in your cars, your guns, your Bibles, and anything else that makes you feel like a self-reliant individual.  The government will make everything all right. 

Government would then have the wonderful opportunity to put restrictions on our movement, and to more easily monitor our movement.  Sharing might mean getting into a filthy vehicle because the person before you treated it like crap - you know, like the way people treat rental cars, or bus seats, but hey, government will make it all work out okay in the end. . . right?

Could relinquishing private automobile ownership be a great technological advancement, or a technological prison controlled and manipulated by authoritarians in our government?  Will automobile ownership eventually become something only the wealthy or politically-connected will be able to afford?  Will refusing to use the new public transportation system without access to privately owned cars lead to accusations of bigotry and offensive dissent against a society that demands you be like them, or be punished for your denial of cultural and societal demands? Will driving up in a gasoline engine automobile cause snowflake youngsters to scramble for their safe zones away from the mean and offensive driver?

The brave new world of self-driving cars may be exactly what the hard-left statists have hoped for.  Trust me, it's on the horizon, the day that government grabs a hold of transportation in full.  It'll be easy.  All they have to do is convince an uninformed public that private car ownership is no longer a good thing.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

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