This morning I just realized, while reading an article opposed to “bailing out” the auto companies, the cause of this hostility toward American auto-makers.
You see, when a child reads Popular Mechanics they believe it. When they see images of flying concept cars and streamlined coupes, they expect to own them once they grow up. They see the swept-wing stylings of ‘57 Thunderbirds and ‘59 Cadillacs. They grow into budding teenagers driving big-block GTOs and souped-up Mustangs. Or at least, sitting idly aside while envying those who did.
But as they came oh so near to their piece of the pie, to the slice of iron that they were owed, it all fell apart; The oil ran dry, the prices ran high, and the style, the power, the panache went dim. Engines were systematically choked by the Clean Air Act, they were starved by CAFE standards, speed limits plummeted to 55, and worst of all, innovative designs were marred by NHTSA regulations as well as crash impact requirements.
The piece of Americana which these men and women had felt entitled to, had felt promised, was quietly taken behind the barn, and they didn’t even notice. They just turned to the new imported wonders. They bought up the cheap steel which was stamped together in foreign lands, by unknown soiled hands, under paid, over worked, endangered on a daily basis; and the profits went to their overseers.
Meanwhile, out to pasture, the American worker starved too, but not because he was underpaid, and not because he could not make a superior product, but simply because of free trade.
But I’m not here to lecture on free trade, god knows I’ve done that before; I’m here to show that the disillusionment so many have felt toward Detroit is unfounded. Unlike Exxon, they have not extorted the American public. They have not reaped inordinate profits. They have never starved their workers as Hyundai does on our own shores.
My point, quite simply, is a request to all; please target your hate at the appropriate cause. Do not starve your dog and justify its death by saying it did not eat. And especially, when it’s weak and dying, do not give it a bite and expect that to absolve you of guilt.
