Down through history one of the ways that the nobility has kept the common people in their place is to control their mobility. The Romans did not let the Jews ride horses. The Muslims did the same. One of the great equalizers of modern times was the automobile and it wasn’t even the invention that made the difference.
The instigator of liberty was Henry Ford who developed the assembly line and brought down the price of a car so that the average working man could afford it. No longer did you need to live within walking distance of your job. No longer were you confined to the shopping choices within carrying distance. The world opened up. You could run away from oppression or run toward a confrontation. It was your choice.
That kind of choice is what the elites of the world hate. One of the enemies of totalitarian tyrants is the ability of the common people to vote with their feet. How are you going to find someone to clean your toilets if the poor woman down the street can drive to a better paying job? How are you going to increase taxes if the man down the street can pack up and drive to another state? The Communists made it impossible for common people to have a car that would run and they still had to build a wall to keep them in, with machine gun towers no less.
There is a reason that people like Al Gore and the environmentalists are pushing to take you out of your car and put you on a bus. They can control the bus lines. They can set the schedule and determine the routes. They can suck up your time waiting on others to arrive. They can force you to rub elbows with people you would rather avoid. More time wasted and more energy in worry for your safety means you have less time to think and cause problems.
The historic battle between the plow and the crown is about who is in control. What other reason would people push government controls instead of free markets. Capitalists learned a long time ago that in order to make a lot of money they needed to have a population that made enough to buy their product. Socialists don’t care about that. They know that if they are in control they will have good health care, good food and effective air-conditioning. They can have their cake and eat yours too. Let me paraphrase a tired statement from the anti-war protestors: What if we had a revolution and you didn’t get their because you missed the bus.
If buses were cost effective we would have people clamoring to start bus companies. If trains were what people really wanted they would not need to be subsidized by your tax money.
Give me liberty. Give me a car.
homo unius libri
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