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Never Mind Congress, Where’s the Public?
The Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency, a project of the Pew Charitable Trusts Environment Group, has taken an advertisement in the Washington Post noting the current prices for oil and gasoline, stating that gas mileage standards haven’t increased, and in big bold type, using the tag line, “Where’s Congress?”
The irony of the Pew ad campaign is that it focuses on political officials while ignoring the people actually responsible for America’s automotive energy use decisions, the auto-buying public. There are many higher mileage trucks and cars on the market for consumers to choose from, usually at lower prices than larger, more powerful vehicles.
People base their car, truck and minivan buying decisions on diverse factors including family size, location, job, hobbies, and, yes, personal preferences regarding style and power. If Pew objects to the public’s choices, then that’s on whom they should focus their attention.
While blaming politicians for the public’s choices makes for an easy sound bite, it excludes the real decision makers from responsibility. America’s energy use decisions rest not with Congress, companies or foreign countries, but with ourselves.
See Pew advertisement
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