Obama: Fuel Efficiency, Vehicle Emissions, and Death

Obama continues his assault on our freedoms and physical well-being.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama outlined Tuesday the nation's first comprehensive effort to curb vehicle emissions while cutting dependence on imported oil, calling the plan an historic turning point toward a "clean-energy economy."

Joined in the White House Rose Garden by leaders of the auto industry, labor, government officials and key national and state political leaders, Obama said the agreement that once would have been "considered impossible" was what he termed a "harbinger of a change in the way business is done in Washington."

The two-pronged approach to problems that compound threats to the global environment marks the latest in a series of shifts by the Obama administration away from the policies of his conservative predecessor, former President George W. Bush.

"As a result of this agreement," Obama said, "we will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the lifetime of the vehicles sold in the next five years. And at a time of historic crisis in our auto industry, this rule provides the clear certainty that will allow these companies to plan for a future in which they are building the cars of the 21st century."

He said the new rules amounted to removing 177 million cars from the roads over the next 6 1/2 years.

Obama is definitely moving away from the policies of the Bush administration.

He's engaged in a power grab, empowering the federal government and trampling on states' rights.

He's taking away Americans' freedom to drive vehicles that are safer on the road. He's lowering the likelihood that we will survive traffic accidents.

Obama doesn't address the fact that he is taking away our freedom to choose the sort of vehicles we want to drive.

He doesn't address the fact that lighter vehicles are less safe. That means more traffic injuries and deaths.

Perhaps this is part of Obama's plan to lower health care costs -- make it more likely that car accident victims will die and die quickly. More deaths at the scene of accidents will occur. That's a fact.

It is well documented that the sort of CAFE standards that the dictatorial Obama is imposing on the nation poses a risk to Americans.

Politicians should stop distorting the marketplace with unwise policies and convoluted regulations and allow the market to respond to consumer demand for passenger vehicles. In addition to free-market considerations, there are other compelling reasons to reject the CAFE standards. For example:

---CAFE standards endanger human lives;
---CAFE standards fail to reduce consumption; and
---CAFE standards do not improve the environment.

The CAFE program has failed to achieve its goals. Since its inception, both oil imports and vehicle miles driven have increased while the standards have led to reduced consumer choice and lives lost that could have survived car crashes in heavier vehicles.

The CAFE standards should not be increased. They should be repealed and replaced with free market strategies. Consumers respond to market signals. As past experience shows, competition can lead to a market that makes gas guzzlers less attractive than safer and more fuel-efficient vehicles. That is the right way to foster energy conservation.

There is a right way to address environmental issues and a wrong way.

Obama, not surprisingly, is going about it the wrong way.

A clean environment, safe vehicles, and personal freedom are not mutually exclusive.