Politics and Auto Makers

Early this week, President Barack Obama was asked if his administration would step in to prevent GM from outsourcing its cars to China. The answer was no. The government was supplying funding but would not get involved in the day-to-day administration tasks of GM. Government and auto manufacturing? Traditionalism versus protectionism is another view. Why not look at both?

In the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith informed us that a country or state should stick with what it does best and let another country or state produce what it does best. It seems obvious by the state of GM and Chrysler that they do not make the best cars. So why bale them out? It appears to be tradition in the fact that America WAS the car capital of the world. Now, it is Japan and China. They have quickly grasped the concept of smaller and greener cars and turned over their manufacturing to produce them with ease. Why couldn’t GM or Chrysler do that? Are they expecting gas prices to go back down to where they were 5 years ago? Are they expecting that enough U.S. citizens will ignore climate change statistics and continue to buy a new SUV every 5 years? There are many small car manufacturers here in the U.S. that the government should be supporting. They are working toward fuel efficient, some wholly electric, cars and have listened to what the public wants. Let us make an interesting analogy.

Compare our automakers, known the world over as the Big Three, to our politics. Several companies make cars that are not based in Detroit, such as Tesla and Commuter Cars. There are also several other political parties compared to our Two Party System. The smaller parties attract people who do not believe they are being heard by the Democrats or Republicans. Like the smaller car companies Greens, Socialists, and Libertarians are largely ignored. What ever happened to President Jefferson’s vision to “unite in common efforts for the common good”? Ford Motors, the only auto company not taking a bailout, has joined with the electric car company Magna International to produce Ford’s electric car. Maybe we should all be looking for a partnership to make change.

Democrats have learned and should continue to learn about ideas from Greens and Socialists. Republicans should get back to their roots and take a lesson from the Libertarians. We have to look toward the future and get involved in the change. Too many people sit, complain, and write notes on newspaper articles on-line. We all need to be active in our government and unite for our own good. We can save our automakers and our politics.