Dear President-elect Obama,
It gives me great hope for America that you so solidly won the position of President. Your campaign inspired many millions of Americans and your election made me feel proud of America again. Your election is evidence of the possibility of great change.
I hope your administration will continue to be an agent of change, undoing the damage of the last eight years of Bush policies and decades of inaction on climate change. Beyond just correcting America’s past mistakes, let’s re-think the assumptions that got us into this mess.
We must do away with the assumption that increasing CAFE standards will cost American jobs and hurt American industry. In fact, American automakers are hurting so much now because we’ve failed to adequately encourage the production of high-efficiency vehicles, despite the market’s clear preference for them.
We may as well begin mourning the death of all American automakers now if they don’t start making the fuel efficient cars people prefer and that a carbon-constrained economy and ecosystem demand.
While Ford and GM continue to make inefficient vehicles and take advantage of CAFE loopholes for “light trucks,” Toyota and BMW have simultaneously increased relative sales and reduced emissions.
American workers should be building fuel efficient American vehicles, at once creating green American jobs, fuel efficient American vehicles and a return to profitability for American automakers.
Sincerely,
Alex Tinker
Director of Civic Engagement, Focus the Nation
P.S.
Millions of Americans want to inaugurate more than a new president – we want to inaugurate change.
Hi There,
You are absolutely correct that green is the way to go for the sake of the economy.
Peace to you,
Tom Usher
hear, hear!
an inspiring win – and in the coming months we want to see action on the strength of this mandate.
If you think our auto industry is collapsing because they did not go to higher mileage standards, you are wrong. I worked as a supervisor in a Ford plant when auto plants were a cross between an insane asylum and a battlefield, and the quality of American cars was an international disgrace. The Big Three are in such dire straights because for more than 20 years the quality of American made cars was so bad that 33 states passed “lemon laws” to protect car buyers from Detroit. An entire generation of car buyers have lost trust and confidence in Detroit, they are buying foreign cars, and that is why Detroit is on it’s death bed. You can read the entire story in my book “A Savage Factory – Eyewitness to the auto industry’s self destruction.” It will be available from http://www.authorhouse.com in about 2 weeks.
Hey rdewar839797!
I am a OCC English teacher putting together a lit course on all things Michigan. I just ran across word of your book. Do you reside in the D? Wanna present your book to OCC students? I look forward to the read. you can find me on the OCC webpage if interested. Look under campuses-Royal Oak-English-me.
Gina Fournier