Poll - Should Americans be free to own Sport Utility Vehicles? (Say SUVs taking freedom too far!)

GoGov ^ | November 30, 2002

[BJungNan]

Should Americans be free to own Sport Utility Vehicles?

- No. Allowing people to destroy the environment is talking freedom a bit too far. SUV’s should be banned. 68%
- Yes. SUV’s are easier to drive in traffic, better for hauling kids, great for camping. Freedom is great! 32%

Poll Link Here

[BJungNan]

Some real whacked out people out there on this SUV business. I swear they are communist. And if they get their way, they will be the only ones driving a sport ute (they will need them for their work to save the rest of us). These people really are communuists.

[Mr. Silverback]

Wow. That is one badly designed web page.

[BJungNan]

A better link

Ooops. Sorry. Yes, much better.

[pops88]

Bump

[contessa machiaveli]

i despise SUVs, i drive a BMW roadster which could fit into the back seat of one of these behemoths. it was my choice to be a frivolous boomer,and SUV owners have the right to pay $50 everytime they need a fillup. that's why our country is great.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Live by the poll and die by the poll. Blessed be the 'pol'. Now we know why there was once a poll-tax. May there soon be again.

Democracy is the rule of fools by fools. The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.

[billhilly]

Yes, dammit. Bring on the Mack Trucks, Humvees and D9 Catapillars. Tanks, if ya got 'em. Drive those pansies off the planet. If God hadn't wanted SUVs he wouldn't have created Tokyo.

[goldstategop]

No if God had wanted us to drive a death trap car he would have put Yugos in every garage.

[scholar]

That is one badly designed web page.

No kidding--it's a mess.

Because I am forced by economic retraints to drive a small vehicle, I pretty much hate anything that obstructs my view of the road. However, I totally support the rights of a citizen to drive any vehicle they choose. This lib propaganda about SUV's destroying the environment is total barf material!

[oyez]

i despise BMW Roadsters. My SUV fills up for less than $30 and i get good millage,too, thank you. I can take a 500 mile trip, arriving at the other end with out being in a total body cramp. I've paid my dues with small cars.

[billhilly]

Sorry

[joesnuffy]

The fact that you either are ignorant or evil in this SUV business is of little consequence.
The elite see things...great things..they are people of vision...and intellegence...beauty..charm and grace..things the little people could never be...

The little people are for labor aka taxes and to fix things..to keep the elite in a style they deserve & as is befitting of...well ..the elite..

SUVs are not for little people...too much power too much consumption too much freedom.and dominance...

Little people need to be weaned off of such crass consumerism..

Lttle people need to learn to live on less so that what they have now can be taken away and given to someone much less fortunate than themselves...little people are so selfish..

One thing that makes the elite-elite is their giving natures...and their ability to delegate resources.

[tubebender]

YES=53%...

[JohnnyRidden]

I prefer sports cars, muscle cars, and sports sedans (I would love to own a Nissan Skyline R34), but I believe everyone has the God given right to drive a SUV. I feel so uncomfortable in the econoboxes the enviro weenies want us to drive. Satan will be iceskating to work the day I drive something like a Honda Prius or Ford Think!.

[martian_22]

All they're asking for is common sense legislation to protect our health, safety and the environment. Who could argue with that?

You know, like smoking, firearm owners registration, abortion, taxes etc.....What is the end game?

At least they're not after jeeps, pick-up trucks, sporty status cars(easy pickin's for class warfare), motorcycles(off-road) and RVs....Yet.

[NJJ]

i despise BMW Roadsters

I believe that driving a BMW is "Probable Cause".

[ricpic]

Long live the elite........the little people.......the elite........the little people.......the...oh I'm so confused. Can someone lend me an SUV so that I can ride off into the sunset in style.

[NRA2BFree]

SUVs are not for little people...

When I read your remark, I realized who*s at the bottom of this whole SUV issue. It*s Little Tommy Dashole. It occured to me that he can*t reach the peddles. BWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[John W]

GoGov.com Poll: Poll Comments

SUVS do not "destroy the environment".Wake up! 11/30/02 3:17:10 PM MST

Anyone who wants to tell me what to drive is a Communist. 11/30/02 3:15:06 PM MST

Sad. Very sad, tthat 40% of the voters have no idea about personal liberty! 11/30/02 3:10:23 PM MST

It is frightening that anyone votes no on this stupid question 11/30/02 3:09:24 PM MST

It's not a freedom issue, it's an issue of class warfare. Class jealously and classlessness on the part of the enviro crowd itself 11/30/02 3:05:44 PM MST

LIBERTY &FREEDOM WIN ALWAYS 11/30/02 2:59:52 PM MST

A no vote amounts to a lack of freedom! You commie b*stards should all be run from the country! 11/30/02 2:59:07 PM MST

This is America and we HAVE the RIGHT to drive what we want. It is guaranteed by The Constitution of The United States of America! Read it sometime. You might learn something! 11/30/02 2:56:49 PM MST

Utility Vehicles are better than non-utility vehicles. 11/30/02 2:56:32 PM MST

Should GoGov.com be allowed to keep putting up retarded polls? 11/30/02 2:55:34 PM

[fightu4it]

Poll: Should Americans live in half million dollar homes when $150,000.00 are good enough?

Poll: Should Americans use 4 plys when two will get the job done?

I don't know comrads. Lets ask the party chairman.

[wayoverontheright]

The reason SUVs are getting so much flak from the environmentalists is that they want the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) requirement for trucks and SUVs raised by congress. CAFE was imposed on cars in the late seventies and early eighties on a graduated basis. As a result of the ensuing 71% increase in fuel economy, and the fact that in inflation adjusted prices, a gallon of gas is cheaper now than it was then, people are driving double the miles. The law was enacted not so much to reduce pollution as to REDUCE OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL. In 1973, the US imported 35% of its petroleum, today that number is approaching 70%. Our argument against this should rest not so much on the fact that our SUVs would disappear, but that it would increase our dependence on foreign oil.

The fact that the cost per mile is so much cheaper today is also the reason that public mass transit, a true sacred cow of the greens, cannot compete without massive infusions of tax money.

[contessa machiaveli]

probable cause for what? and why? and i'm not forcing you to drive a roadster just as you can't force me to drive an SUV.

[Tunehead54]

You must not have a 470! (;-) I'm at $30 for a 3/4 fillup. Got my wife the truck below - she worried about me in my little Altima so I caved and got the Lexus LX 470 - Still there's NOTHING better than a Land Cruiser!

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[per loin]

First we'll go after the smokers. Few non-smokers will mind if we throw a few extra thousand dollars a year in taxes on every smoker. Then we can hit the SUV owners with a huge "gas guzzler" tax. Folks who drive smaller vehicles will back us. Next, we can go after the fat people with a tax on "excessive personal lard". People will understand if we tell them that they not only have to carry their own weight, but pay for the environmental damage done by that weight. After that, we can...

[GaryMontana]

I drive a Mercedes-Benz SUV.

I was hit by a truck (that jumped across the road) two years ago. The first cop on the scene told me that had I been in a car I would have been DEAD. The strength, body structure, and strength saved my life.

I won't give up my SUV to any green nazi enviornmentalist! The Bible says "Therefore choose life" So Jesus would drive an SUV!

[GaryMontana]

Before I bought my Mercedes-Benz SUV I looked into Land Cruisers.

I defend your right to a Cruiser, I love my M-B SUV even more.

[Gone_Postal]

GoGov.com Poll

Should Americans be free to own Sport Utility Vehicles?

No. Allowing people to destroy the environment is talking freedom a bit too far. SUV’s should be banned. (125)	33%
Yes. SUV’s are easier to drive in traffic, better for hauling kids, great for camping. Freedom is great! (259)	67%

Total Votes: 384

Enter your comments: 
GoGov.com News, Opinion, NETcessities

[sarasmom]

If I could afford one, I would be driving one also.

I cant believe the nerve of the people who feel they have some kind of "right" to stick their noses into the personal vehicle choices of US citizens.

If I win the LOTTO tonight I will buy the biggest, most luxurious SUV, I can find,jack it up with a big wheel kit, put KC lights on it, strap a fake dead deer to the top, and hire a driver to tool around PETA and ELF demonstrations,(videotaping reactions) just for the entertainment value.

Note to self: cut back on caffeine.

[Gone_Postal]

no more left to say

[facedown]

Done bump.

[Paladin2]

They should go after automatic transmissions first.

In addition to allowing better driving habits and lower fuel costs (And as direct outcome of the chemistry of lower fuel costs - lower CO2/mi), not as many people would want to drive.

Could help congestion and make it easier to find free parking. (It's really free parking that makes America great! - Have you noticed that when you have to pay to park that the environment seems much worse than that where one doesn't have to pay?)

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Nuke the whales!

Pave the rainforest!

Earth first! We'll mine the other planets later!

[Prodigal Son]

I can hardly believe that this poll, and its question exists- but, I voted anyway.

[Tunehead54]

No problemo! To each his own - at least in America (so far!)

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[grammymoon]

done

[Tunehead54]

If I could afford one, I would be driving one also.

---

Go to Carmax.com. Look for 2 years old toyota/nissan/honda with 30-40K miles. Get a carfax.com report. They're fair - you'll get close to Bluebook - better if your trade-in ibs in good shape - gotta go ...

[TruthWillWin]

Just voted.

435 total votes, 29% no, 71% yes.

[Cacique]

I frankly think that Americans should be required to drive Humvees and Tanks with 50 cal. machine guns mounted on a rotating turret on top.

I drive an old beemer, but if I had the money, a tank would be the way to go.

[oyez]

I believe that driving a BMW is "Probable Cause".

Yeah, Somebody get a rope!

[timestax]

Females with cell phones stuck to their faces should be barred from driving them! Just try to drive around in a parking lot with these females w/facial cell phones swerving all around!!

[nomorecameljocks]

No one should be allowed to own, possess, or drive an SUV, or a firearm(other than police, military, and civillians with a real need(like Diane Feinstien), any product not approved by the consumer product safety commission, or be allowed to buy, possess, or smoke cigarettes, or a chili burger with fries. Penalty-death by firing squad though a re education camp(gulag)might be an appropriate alternate punishment for those deemed by your commissar to have rehabilitation potential.

[oyez]

Did any one read the John Bragg article? The chief virtue of the automobile is the personal independence it gives the owner—a car can go anywhere roads go and some places they don’t, with a speed unimaginable in the pre-automobile era. Its secondary virtue is protection—from the elements and from collision. In both a car and an SUV, passengers are protected by the vehicle’s structure from the wind and rain. But in a collision, the SUV simply provides more protection than a smaller car does. Larger cars better protect the people in them—that’s why your father wanted you to get a huge, boxy old car when you were sixteen instead of a little Mustang—so that you would live through your first accident. Protection is a big advantage. So why then do the greens oppose safer cars? They oppose big cars for the same reason that they oppose big houses, new highways, new power plants, or basically any wealth-creating or wealth-enjoying endeavor. Wealth means that someone has changed their environment and improved it for human use. Most people want their environment arranged for their benefit—air-conditioned in summer, heated in winter, ventilated, bug-free and clean. In fact, it is man's ability to adapt his environment to his own desires that sets him apart from other animals and has allowed him to prosper.

------------------------------------------

It’s appropriate then that the car is the greatest modern symbol of American freedom. If you don’t agree, ask any teenager counting the days until his license. He won’t need to ask for a ride to his job, to the mall, to school, to a friend’s, to anywhere. Even if he has to ask for Mom’s keys, he’s driving himself—a step towards independence. If he buys his own car, he has his first piece of meaningful property—it has a price, it has economic utility, it has a limited lifespan, there are operating costs, and it must be used with respect for others or there will be consequences.----

The automoblile the great showcase of freedom. The left don't think it that the people shoud be that free. Now rail travel, that's just the thing. Everybody moves in one package to one destination. With an SUV you don't even need roads. Thats too damn free!

[BJungNan]

Earth first! We'll mine the other planets later!

I love it. That could go with logging also. Where do I get the bumper sticker?

[BJungNan]

I did not read Bragg's article. Very, good. Very well put.

Where did you find it? I have been searching the internet and all I can find is "I hate SUV's sites."

[Darnright]

>> pay $50 everytime they need a fillup

>>Hate to tell you this but my Lexus SUV fills up for less than $24. I'd also bet my insurance is a whole lot cheaper than a BMW roadster.<<

Take one 6 cylinder Ford Explorer, fill with 21 gallons (if it's absolutely empty) of regular unleaded at $1.18/gal and you get $24.78, a long way from $50.00. And, said Explorer gets 20 mpg on the highway.

[TXnMA]

I don't know what your game is, mwalker (who signed up on 2002-11-23), but, if you want to talk about pollution, you should take a look at that blasted "Straight Thought" site you linked. It attempts to pollute the hard drive of anyone who visits with an ABSURDLY LARGE NUMBER of "magic cookies". (Yes, I shouted -- intentionally...)

I aborted out of that da#ned page after it had attempted to set ninety-four (that's 94!!!) lengthy 'cookies' on my hard drive. Talk about cyber-pollution and invasion of privacy!!!

I strongly advise all FReepers to avoid that "Straight Thought" site.

The site owners are obviously more interested in' getting into your knickers' -- and gathering information about you -- than they are in 'conservative issues'!

[Terridan]

Freeped and commented on...

GoGov.com Poll

Should Americans be free to own Sport Utility Vehicles?
No. Allowing people to destroy the environment is talking freedom a bit too far. SUV’s should be banned. (126) 25%

Yes. SUV’s are easier to drive in traffic, better for hauling kids, great for camping. Freedom is great! (384) 75%



Total Votes: 510

[Terridan]

Yeah! But so what if my 44 gallon 4WD Suburban only gets 12mpg, I will be safer as will my family, from all of the illegals hit and runners, not to mention the NAFTA trucks!!!
Happpy gass guzzling!!! ;)