Idaho Senator Calls for End to Vehicle Mileage Regulations

Mike Crapo argues it’s time to end a stupid bureaucratic idea.  He’s calling for an end to Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards.  These have plagued the automobile industry and buyers for half a century.  It amounts to government applying the brakes to a key aspect of the economy.  As one of my schoolteachers said when the rules were first applied, so goes the auto industry, so goes the United States.

Government Micro Manages Industry

As a story from the Washington Free Beacon explains, government-dictated fuel economy standards after the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo.  Conditions today are wildly different, as our country is often the planet’s largest producer of oil.  Additionally, there were unintended consequences.  The station wagon, a part of American family culture, vanished as the large vehicles couldn’t meet the low fuel economy regulations.  But trucks were exempt from some of the provisions, and minivans and SUVs are defined as trucks.  In other words, for the last 40 years, none of this has made any sense.

No Sane Person is Opposed

Unless you’re a granola chomping, tree-hugging, crunchy who believes we can all survive by stagecoach, no heat in winter, and walking 25 miles to a job.  In other words, you live in Fantasy Land, have no ambitions, and believe the Tooth Fairy will deliver your groceries and video games.

Crapo, and Idaho Republican, may even find some support from across the aisle.  With a third of the Senate up for re-election, a lot of liberals are trying to distance themselves from the tide of loonies in their own party.  This is about choice, and choice is liberty.