Reason #81: Gasholes and Jackgases - Isolation on Wheels

Americans like to picture themselves driving off into the sunset, but right now, unless we make real changes to our energy policy, we’re speeding toward a cliff.

The farthest place you can get from Europe and its bullet trains is Smugsville, USA. Everyone here’s got a “up yours” attitude and we’re proud of it. How do you know you’re in Smugsville? When you’re in a car, by yourself, with the pedal to the metal and bass booming in your ears as you jerk the wheel back and forth to cut from lane to lane.

Let’s face it: We’re a culture on wheels. We demand portability, and we demand it on our own terms, to suit our own personal impulses. It’s not just get in the car and go free. Nowadays it’s get in the car and go fast and angry! Used to be, the Mustang, the Corvette, the Impala were the very symbols of American independence. Route 66, road trip, a tankful of gas, the beauty of the open highway. Well, not anymore. These days the car-especially that god-awful Hummer-is the symbol of our isolation, our aggression, and our blind cultural addiction to black gold.

That goofy rebate check that Bush doled out in 2008? For most Americans it went straight into their gas tanks. At current gasoline prices, it’s costing people hundreds of dollars a month to keep their four-wheeled battleships afloat. But who can have sympathy for the idiots who thought they needed massive pickups and SUVs to haul groceries or commute to work?

The stupidity of consumers is only matched by that of Detroit automakers. A recent headline in the Wall Street Journal read, “Ford Profits Run Over by a Truck.” How smart are our automakers, who had to have seen escalating oil prices yet kept making bigger and bigger vehicles? They only cared about immediate profits. The truth is that these people would make bathtubs on wheels if the profit margins were big enough. But now they’re losing billions as huge SUVs sit unsold at car dealerships-and it’s their own damn fault.

What boggles my mind is that as we get deeper into this energy crisis, the word “conservation” is just a buzz word, another empty slogan like “change.” Nobody is really challenging Americans to change their lifestyles. Nobody is saying, “Don’t be fuelish.” Nobody is suggesting that we drive less or take the bus more. If a politician called for sacrifices, he or she would get booed out of office.

Politicians need to keep the good times rolling because Americans haven’t gotten any less arrogant or less willing to change their gluttonous, wasteful habits. So we keep driving as usual and acting like oil will never run dry. Americans like to picture themselves driving off into the sunset, but right now, unless we make real changes to our energy policy, we’re speeding toward a cliff.

NEXT: A Moon Shot over Manhattan Project to Solve our Energy Crisis