A Modest Proposal to Save the United States

We've been following the affairs of the United States' automobile manufacturers rather closely. It's an interesting situation, one that we think deserves more analysis that it seems to be getting. The moves to nationalise the companies, as we wrote about in an earlier article, seem to suggest that one of the most probable outcomes will be the foundation of 'AmeriCar'.

The notion of a nationalised automobile manufacturer is not outside of the realm of possibility, in this bailout-happy era of U.S. policy-making. It carries with it a guarantee of employing thousands of people, backstops what James Kunstler calls the "Happy Motoring fiesta," and more-or-less (mostly less) preserves the appearance of the status quo. All these appear to be the avowed goals of the Obama Administration, so the situation really is ripe for this particular flavour of Lemon Socialism. If the AmeriCar future is true, we have some thoughts as to how the Government can help make the continuation of the Happy Motoring fiesta more durable.

All that we suggest is the phasing in of a national speed limit of 35 miles per hour. Municipalities could, of course, have lower speed limits, but the highest legal speed in the United States would be 35 mph. Ignoring the indignant screams of rage from the Citizenry, this vastly lower limit would bring many positive changes:

The loss of life in automobile accidents would fall dramatically to near zero, reducing the cost of cleaning up the wreck, the medical bills, and fixing any damage done to public roadways. The repair cost of automobile collisions would be greatly reduced, since at 35 mph the force involved in any one collision is relatively low. The wear on public roadways and bridges would fall dramatically, allowing for more maintenance money to be diverted from maintenance to building more infrastructure.

Additionally, the reduced speed limit would force citizens to live closer to their places of work. By vastly cutting commutes, this would give citizens more time to spend with their families (or work more, according to preference). Also, the amount of energy burned daily by citizens going to work would be vastly reduced, thereby cutting the United States' dependence on 'foreign oil.' At the same time, this would automatically increase the density of American cities, which would both give a larger tax base to those cities, as well as make public services cheaper (i.e. more people are paying less).

We could go on, but we hope the point is made. A simple and elegant piece of legislation, like a vastly reduced national speed limit, could perform a world of change. Many of the apparent goals of the Obama Administration could be serviced by a lower speed limit. To be honest, we fully believe that this sort of legislation will never see the light of day. Such well-reasoned, functional mandates seem to be beyond the abilities of the Government.