ALT-1 Should Hummers be Outlawed for Road Travel – Yes
I can fully understand the side of the argument that says people should be able to drive whatever they want on America's roads. After all, we do live in a free country. There would certainly be some widespread outrage if the government began telling the American people what they can and can't drive.
Ideally, the consumer should determine the fate of the Hummer. And to some extent, they have. Certainly, GM's decision to scrap their mid-1990s electric car in order to begin production on Hummers was a monumentally stupid mistake. Those executives who made that call, surely in concert with oil industry cronies and lobbyists, should be ashamed of themselves. They had the golden opportunity to save the American auto industry, the city of Detroit, and tens of thousands of American jobs. As we learn more and more every day, the people making decisions for the rest of us are usually completely out of touch with reality. American consumers and autoworkers paid the price.
So the Hummer went into production and had a few years of good sales. But once gas prices spiked and people began to finally accept the truth behind global warming and other climate issues, Hummer sales fell off, and continue to plunge.
Cheers to consumers for beginning to realize how ridiculous and unnecessary Hummers are. They waste our planet's resources, take up a huge amount of space on the road, and are much harder on pavement and blacktop then small, light cars. Not to mention they look comically ridiculous.
That said, there are still way too many Hummers on the road today.
So at what point do outside forces need to step in a say "enough is enough with these gas guzzling behemoths"? Well, I believe that the rules that govern our actions in relationship to our planet are beginning to change. The public is starting to accept that each and every one of us needs to alter our behavior to leave a lighter footprint on the Earth. Some people will not accept this quietly. They will contend that they can live however they like and not care about the planet if they choose. Those are the types of individuals who will likely drive Hummers, and we may need to force their hand.
At the end of the day, we all have to agree to share the planet reasonably. If we keep on our current destructive path, there won't be anything left for our children's children. So radical plans may need to be enacted. Personally, I'd say a nationwide ban on Hummers would be a good start.
