We had pulled off the interstate late one evening to get gas. By son does a good job of using the settings on his phone. It was in a part of Mississippi we thought would be a small town setting. As we pulled up to the pumps and got out of the cars the first thing we noticed was the heavy traffic. The place was hopping. Then we jumped when someone a few pumps away revved his engine with the cut-outs open. I had visions of my childhood as a couple of street racers would pull in to get gas and see how much noise they could make.
What was discordant was the hot rodders themselves. I was expecting to see duck tails and leather jackets. I figured on T-shirts with a pack of cigarettes rolled into the sleeve. What I got instead were Afros, corn rows and underwear hanging out. It turned out we were the only whites in a very busy gas station/convenience store. The cars were the same. The noise was the same. The activities were the same. In a very real sense the people were the same down under. Young men tend to be young men. From the looks of the cars they were working jobs and putting everything into their machines.
The car culture is another thing that can tie Americans together. That is not always pleasant for the civilians around it. In the small Texas town where we live there is a shopping center with a big parking lot. On Wednesday night there is a car rally. I don’t know if it is weekly or monthly, but they do. All the car clubs and hot rodders show up. Some park and put up their hoods to show their shiny. Some drive around making noise. They display the lights in their wheels. All have a great time. The merchants hate it because they think it scares away customers but if they could find a way to embrace the event it would pay off.
Cars can give us something in common. For some it will be discussing horsepower and hydraulics. For others it might be woofers that fill the trunk. For some it will be the freedom to come and go without being forced to wait for some city employee to decide if he is going to follow the schedule posted on the bus stop. At times it will be seeing how many you can crowd into a car to get pizza.
That is another reason why the Progressives want to take away our cars. They move us towards E Pluribus Unum. They don’t want that.
homo unius libri
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