The Politics of the Hybrid
Hybrid cars are a political issue. It would be easy to assume that we could just each make our own individual decision as to why and if a hybrid was for us and be on about our business. It would be nice if people were responsible enough to be buying more hybrids and thus increase demand on them and thus increase the jobs in the country building these hybrid cars. That is simply not the case though. Because of this and because of the current state of the economy, the hybrid car has been making news on a political front this year.
With the presidential primaries raging all about us in the most ferocious battle in recent history the democratic candidates are battling for every single delegate they can grab. Barak Obama has stated over and over in his message that he is dedicated to ensuring that American auto makers are putting more time and money into increasing production of Hybrid cars. This has become especially important in Michigan as car makers are posting huge losses and cutting jobs everywhere. Obama has repeatedly stated his dedication to making sure that more companies in America are creating greener and more fuel efficient products.
If Obama really gets into power and can make this happen it could turn things around for the American auto industry. Hybrids increase in popularity every day as our attention gets focused more and more on the state of our world around us. The American’s are offering hybrids, but they just don’t have the numbers or the visibility of those cars to compete with the imported models. If the American car makers started making more and better hybrids, it could only work out better for everyone.
People should feel it’s as much their responsibility to buy American hybrids as to buy hybrids at all. The economy is in a serious recession and if the shift can move to buying American cars again it will help that economy. But, obviously we have environmental responsibilities as well, so we’re not going to rush out and buy an American gas guzzler. It is a comfort to see political candidate who realizes this conundrum as well as sees a way out of it. Hopefully that vision can come to pass and all of us can be putting our resources towards both trying to maintain and respect our environment as well as supporting workers within our own country. Both are social and national responsibilities that Barak Obama clearly takes very seriously. We should as well. Obama himself traded in his V8 for a hybrid, and hopefully the car makers will heed his message regardless of what happens in this election and we can all get back along a better path.
