The War on Cars is a War on Liberty – IOTW Report

The War on Cars is a War on Liberty

Wednesday, 2 August 2017, 20:00 BFH Uncategorized 42

I’ve always been dismayed when patriots push back against my rants about bicycles. I’m not anti-bike. Here’s a never before made full disclosure – I BIKE EVERYWHERE. But I loathe the “biking culture” when the right falls for it.

You think those ever-increasing lanes made exclusively for bikes is a government push to get people healthy? You think it’s to save the environment? Pffft.

No, the push for bikes is an attack on the freedom cars affords the proletariat. It’s an assault on liberty and an attempt to control. If you don’t believe me you are extremely naive.

ht/ annie

42 Comments on The War on Cars is a War on Liberty

  4. A week or so ago there was an article in the local Santa Monica paper, saying that a study showed that a planned increase in housing in the downtown area of 73% would have no impact on increasing traffic. This in the city that is number 1 in the country in driving frustration (based on Instagram posts or something, highly unscientific but still makes the point). The reason for ‘no impact’ is that all the new tenants won’t want to drive cars, being happy to take buses, trains, bikes. Bull. But the planners just keep destroying our traffic.

  7. My only problem with the anti-bikers is they are irrational like leftists.
    The rants make it sound like you are forced to commute behind the Le Tour De France every day.
    If this is what you mean then it is all cool.
    I will no longer recommend a BFH biking safe-space.

    Me, I enjoy riding my mountain bike.
    I stay off the roadways as much as possible because drivers will FUCKING KILL YOU!
    Either on purpose or because the dumb bastards are texting.

  8. Tell me you don’t wear those spandex bicycle pants Fur.
    I’ll stick with my 5.7 L 4×4 pickup, thanks.
    Mine is a serene and bucolic rural setting and the bike nazis leave the city every weekend to terrorize my neighborhood, acting as if they own the place.
    I hate them. The best I can do is to hit my windshield washer as I finally pass them on these windy roads.

    Speaking of spandex, several years ago there was an event at the beginning of operation Iraqi freedom where mark Warner pedaled to it in his spandex and got up on stage to speak. Lord knows what he said. Dude. Get your figs out of my face.

  9. I don’t push back, bikers today are idiots who don’t seem to understand cars are bigger and faster than them. Then they argue for them to be able to bike down major highways along with narrow county roads claiming traffic laws should be the same for them as motor vehicles, yet they won’t stop at stop signs or stop lights and think they should ride 4 or five wide down a narrow road and refuse to get out of the way. Hell at the age of 5 I knew to get the hell out of the way of a car.

  10. I ride 8 miles on the Galveston Island
    seawall once a week on the side walk.
    Yes idiot drivers today with the idiot I-box
    glued to their face will run your ass over
    and never even hit the brakes.I have to come
    to a complete stop some times.A tourist child
    steps out of the car/suv/truck and sees the gulf
    and the salt water beach for the first time
    and boy are they excited and not paying attention
    to any thing…

  11. Exactly right fur, and the problem for us in flyover country is that we are impacted by the crap that the urban populations “decide”.
    40,000 miles per year isn’t going to happen in any electric vehicle, tomorrow I am driving 900 miles home, what is that a 4 day trip in a chevy volt?

  12. Bike riders as a group are made up of pretty much the same various personalities you’ll find in any other group. I figure any group has somewhere in around 5% complete flaming assholes. The problem with complete flaming asshole bicycle riders is that they can screw with a very large number of people out on the roadways in a relatively short time. An asshole in a store, for example, can only screw with the people who come to him. The scum biker goes out and screws with everybody he runs across (so to speak).

    So, remember the rest of us polite and civilized bicycle riders when you’re out there in your car or truck. We aren’t your enemies, and most of us will go well over half way to make the sharing of the road easier for motorized guys. After all, I drive my car for at least ten times the miles I ride my bike, so I’m very well aware of what makes up proper bicycle etiquette on the public roads.

  13. I don’t complain about a person or two out here. It’s when you get a pack of ten or more riding 2, 3 and 4 abreast. And there are lots of elevation changes so sometimes these guys are going less than 5 mph in a 45 zone.

  14. The traffic in Minneapolis/St Paul has been horrific. It takes me 45 minutes to drive 10 miles on my way home from work. This has been going on for almost one year. Last month, there was some kind of meeting with the metro council (unelected jerks that have total power over trasportation) where one of the council members admitted that they have no intention of easing the congestion on the roads. The reason???? They want to punish people for driving their cars and get them to support them building their desired choo-choos.

  18. I love this PragerU video because it validates something I’ve been saying for eons – that liberals hate cars and car culture because in cars WE choose where we are going to go, and when. God forbid if those liberal self driving cars ever become a reality it’ll go something like this:
    ME: (Speaking to my self driving car computer) “Take me to my favorite steak joint.”
    SELF DRIVING CAR: (In robotic voice) “The state has determined that steak is racist and warms the planet. Initiating shut down sequence and reporting you to the state via the Progressive Snapshot Snitcher Device.”

  19. “Bike riders as a group are made up of pretty much the same various personalities you’ll find in any other group”

    Al, Groups have a habit of adopting certain personalities. A lot of times the lowest common denominator. Most people are weak minded individuals and love relying on others to tell them their opinions. I have nothing against people riding bikes But when law makers start giving bikers more rights to the road than the people that pay registration and gas tax to maintain the roads that’s not right.

  20. When someone over the age of 20 says they bike everywhere I assume they mean motorcycle.
    I started riding at 8 and by 20 I rode to Alaska. I’ve now been to Alaska by motorcycle 11 times.
    By the way. It sucks. Never do it. It’s terrible.
    But each year we ride for 2 weeks for a vacation. We bring back up bikes and extra equipment in
    2 large trucks. Plus 4 SUV’s.
    The wives who don’t want to ride on a bike take the SUV.

  21. 0bamas own words struck me the minute I heard it: “American can’t continue to drive SUVs, or set our thermostats at the temperature we want to”.

    WTH not? I pay my own damn bills, I don’t waste energy. The “issue” is never the issue, the issue is always the revolution. This is just communism and their desired destruction of private property rights. This time under the cover of “environmentalism”. Think Al Gore or Michael Moore will be biking their fat asses anywhere?

  22. Riding my bike was an excellent mode of transportation when I was a kid. I could get everywhere I needed to go via sidewalks, alleys and I had respect for traffic. When I got my first car I never had a thought of switching it out some day for a bike or public transportation. Why? I rode the bus during art school. I got pestered by drunks and idiots. Fought with a drunk who tried to take my art bin and satchel at a bus stop. I want my own space where I am not relying on the collective to spill out of a cattle car at the appropriate stop.

    I’m a little ranty today. 😡

  23. @Brad – You make a good point. Two, actually. Yes, there are exceptions to my 5% rule of thumb. But that’s in the nature of rules of thumb. They’re useful but you always have to look out for those pesky exceptions.

    And you’re also right about the fact that some bicycle scum don’t have cars, and so don’t pay any gas/road taxes. But an awfully large proportion of us bike for recreation and/or exercise and own motor vehicles that we drive a lot more than we pedal. We pay road taxes, too. (My ∞ G35 gets about 20 mpg and only drinks premium.)

    As for the left-collectivist pols and bureaucrats, they are a whole different kettle of rotten stinking fish.

  27. With Bikes Government Knows You can Only Go So Far and so Fast… This They Can Control and Rule Over, a Sort of Captive Audiance !
    With Cars They Feel a Lack of Control… So They Fine Every Aspect of it Hoping You’ll Give in !!!

  28. Phenry, that is my problem with them. I have to travel to town on a nice peaceful scenic road that happens to be barely wide enough for two cars with multiple curves and hills. Almost every weekend in during spring and summer, city folks come out on their bikes acting like they own the road, never getting out of your way and always almost causing accidents when cars come up on them, seeing them almost too late. We’ve been known to let them eat a little diesel smoke when we can finally get around them.

  29. @Brad – Heh! Do you weight more than I do: 270 lbs? If you want a bike that doesn’t bend, try what I ride: Electra Townie 8i. (“Electra” is the brand name; it isn’t an electric bike.) Roller brakes, 8-speed internally geared hub, robust heavy duty 6061-T6 aluminum frame.

  31. Lazlo wants a bike. I want to get more exercise and get Angus-the-dog some more running action.
    I was looking at one of those big tire bikes for off road.
    I do not wish to ride on the road.
    Al I shall look at this electra, you say it is good for fat bastards like lazlo?
    Mass ratios are too wide

  32. Traffic lights around here are ridiculously long.
    If I go out to the main road for something – a mile in either direction- I take a bike.
    I get there and back faster.
    It’s become a habit now. I go for the bicycle every chance I get.

    I actually went to Home Depot and carried 6 8-foot PCV pipes home on a bike.

    But this is MY CHOICE.
    The creeping bike culture by the government has something else in mind for us- less choice.
    And the bike community are backing those efforts for self-serving reasons without seeing the big picture.
    They’ve been made dupes in the war between bike and car.
    If you want your liberty, back the CARS even if you like biking.

    And no, no spandex. EVER.

  35. they manipulate our freedoms, restrict them via mass transport. Seen this coming for quite a while. Creeping up on us. I think this would have a negative effect on the economy.

  36. oh, and by the way, around here there and 1000’s of additional “bikers” on Harleys. The majority are aware of their surroundings, many, many are not and are very dangerous. So it depends on your group as Brad says.

  37. Just wait until a large percentage of would-be drivers become bike-ists. Then, the government will start going after the bike-ists with some sort of tax because not enough people are buying gasoline and paying gas taxes. Eventually the tax man WILL actually be taxing your feet.

  38. Once there’s a dedicated bike lane, the goal is to make them ALL bike lanes – it’s the socialist way with everything.
    THAT’S why they’re called progressives; but it has nothing to do with real progress.

  39. For what it’s worth, I have almost one million miles of over the road (18 wheeler) experience from my youth.
    Several hundred thousand miles of car/pickup/motorcycle experience.
    I’ve paid fuel taxes, road use, permit fees, and all the other assorted fees to use these vehicles, including licenses to operate.
    After all that, it is very refreshing to get on my bicycle, and ride it around for ‘nothing. No license, no taxes (other than sales tax on pieces/parts). It’s a right wing dream. Oh, except for the general state/county/city taxes that we all pay to build and maintain the roads.
    Spandex or no, road or mountain bike, I have come to believe that there is simple source for outrage.
    Some assholes ride their bikes like they no longer have to follow any road rules/laws.
    Me? I have lots of lights, reflectors, and visible clothing to improve my odds of not getting crushed by a moron. I stop for stop signs, use my arm signals, yield to almost everything (I am the slowest most places), and generally try to defer to anything big enough to crush me. It works most of the time – just like in every other vehicle I have operated.
    Spandex? It really works to keep you cool on hot days, warm on cold days, and prevents nasty friction burns from the seat, and sometimes, the roadway if you fall. Since I can’t control the ridiculous crap everyone else wears, you don’t get to vote on my choice either.
    Free country. Respect others. Share the Road. Be nice, even when the other person is not.
    Worked in kindergarten – works today.

  40. @Maddog_DD – +100
    We think alike, except I don’t have any spandex because I can’t find any colorful enough.

    @Poor Lazlo – Sorry I’m late in answering, but the Townie is not suitable for off-road. It is closer to a cruiser than anything else but is a bit more versatile. Off-road bikes are a subject I don’t know enough about to offer advice, sorry to say.

  42. Off road, the big tire bikes are good if your ride in sand. Other wise there is no advantage. I ride a Specialized (brand name) which runs $2200. You get what you pay for but you can get a cheap bike at Wall mart. Get one with the shock under the seat and disk brakes if available. The cheap bikes like that are decent if you only ride a little but if you are in to it, you get what you pay for

Comments are closed.

iOTWreport.com ©2024 ----- iOTWreport is not responsible for the content of comments. All opinions in comments are solely the commenter's.