NYT: Make The Mormons Walk To Wal-Mart

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[GreyMountainReagan]

Cronos: From personal experience, everyone that I have talked to that was so anti-SUV was also a liberal.

Just saying.

[Balding_Eagle]

My short answer is that every American citizen should be able to purchase and drive any vehicle they want, can afford, and want to trouble with.

If they want to navigate the streets of any city with a 50 or 60 foot gas guzzling motor home (assuming they are on streets that legally allow them) they can, and should. Tiny, gas sipping cars are welcome too.

Anyone who want to use the power of Big Government to prohibit them from doing so at the point of a gun is nothing more than a Fascist and should be treated as an enemy of the freedoms that God has bestowed on free people everywhere..

[GreyMountainReagan]

Do your drive only electric cars?

Or are you like most liberals that preach one thing while doing another.

Restrictions? oh they are for the little people.

[Cronos]

1. I'm not a liberal -- I'm a CONSERVative
2. When I lived in NY, I took public transport or walked or bicycled. My car I used only for long travels outside the city

See my point? This is not a 0 or 1 game, SUVs etc have a purpose and other vehicles have a purpose. In London I'd look to taking a 2 seater electric car, but in most big cities I'm not going to drive IN the city, so I'll keep my cars for trips outside.

And many folks DO that, it's just the ones that don't that spoil it for everyone and get the government involved -- extremists like you who say "let's burn as much gas as I can even if I don't need it -- it's none of anyone's business as I can pay for it" get the opposite extremists, the envirowackos involved with their "ban everything" philosophy. Both sides feed off each other.

[Cronos]

well, I'm not anti-SUV. as I keep repeating, SUVs have a purpose -- Sports Utility Vehicles or off-roaders have a purpose indicative in their names. Sport cars are for driving fast, station wagons or minivans or MPVs are for moving people around, Mack trucks etc. are for hauling stuff around. It's folks like you with the extreme "let's burn the oil" attitude that gets the government to step in (and muck things up) -- it's like in a true libertarian society, you don't need the minutae of the law policed as everyone instinctively does it. However, when some don't do it then others follow and then it gets out of hand and you get government intervention which you don't want.

I see the same parallels for Investment banks -- the leverage ratios for Bear Stearns and Lehman for instance were through the roof, they didn't adequately police themselves and their risk managers were not heeded. The ratings agency (the self-enforcing arm of the financial world) didn't do their job either. Net result, a collapse and government intervention

[Cronos]

Do you drive only electric cars right now?

I don't drive a car right now -- in the city, I don't need to. When I travel around I take my R1150 GS, for family trips I rent a car --> would I buy an SUV to drive around? When I get back to the states I'm going to be on the East coast, so I'm NOT going to commute by SUV, I may keep one for fishing trips, yes. If you read my posts instead of reacting to what you think I say, you'd figure that I'm not supporting a blanket bans of SUVs, just a judicious use. If there isn't a judicious use by conservatives and everyone says "let's burn it all", you get the opposite reaction happening -- "let's ban it all". Neither of which is right

[GreyMountainReagan]

I... am... typing... this... slowly...

I...read... your...post...

I... see... that... you... are... not... for... a... blanket... restriction of SUVs. I... have... read... that... part. I... have... never.... argued... that... point.

But read this part fast.

You want to restrict SUVs to those that do not abuse them ...according to you.

You want to restrict SUVs to those that use them judiciously...according to you.

You want to restrict SUVs to those that need them...according to you.

If you ever, ever buy any petroleum or plastic, or any other petroleum based product remember to allow others some freedom. Even just a little. Please.

If we are worthy.

When you get back to the USA maybe some of that Eurpoean attitudes will infect your neighbors and we will loose even more freedoms than we have lost. Or perhaps some of the USA attitudes will rub off on you and you will remember that all men are created equal, not some more equal than others.

Does your rental car use gas?

Is is OK if I own a car, or do I have to carpool everywhere?

[Freedom56v2]

But for city driving, small cars make the most sense”

Small cars suck!!!

Cronos, FYI, ironically I had a gas-line freeze in my Honda Pilot over the weekend and was forced to ATTEMPT to drive Honda Civic in 1” of snow—roads were terribly slick and had not yet been Plowed, but I could not go more than 14 mph without slipping and sliding. So, I had to cancel important plans because I would have been over 2 hours late as it would have taken me 3 hours to get into Chicago going 14 mph or less.

Just found it relevant to our early discussion. But regardless of cost of gas (petro-dollars going to terrorists pretty weak at $1.50/gallon & that is including the 10 levels of Chicago tax), the weather, crazy-fast tollway drivers where fast acceleration is a safety factor, snow-packed roads, or driving precious cargo like kids in a car with more substance than a tuna can, most important point is that until America becomes AMERIKA, consumers should be able to choose what they want to drive and not have government or well-meaning people tell them what they have to or should drive.

[Cronos]

you can still act like a nutter if you want and ignore the coming peril behind the “let me burn as much gas as I can because I have the money”. The pity is that your children and grandchildren will have to live with your bad decisions — but if that’s what you want, then so be it.

[GreyMountainReagan]

Condeming those that drive SUV’s with the destruction of our children’s future seems quite harsh.

Please tell me what is the last freedom you will take away. In your world will I be allowed to: buy a large house?, Guns?, Ammo?, How about education, can I homeschool my kids if I want? Heat my house with coal?, Drive my little car 500 mi/week just for fun? Air-condition my house to 68F? Heat my house to 75F? Speak out against Obama and the congress?

I get the idea that global warming ranks high on your list of concerns also. Is that true?

Are you American? Just curious.

[GreyMountainReagan]

I get it now.

You live in Europe and have already ‘given up’ and/or taken away many freedoms and restricting SUV’s is just the next one on whatever liberal list you suscribe to.

Pity your children and grandchildren (if you have any) won’t have much freedom either but it won’t be from the Islamofacists.