Take a cruise to the mall:

Drive through the crowded parking lot; peruse each aisle carefully. Perform some genuinely "unbiased" market research -- take note of every vehicle. With few exceptions, all you'll see are UGLY cars.

And strange "cars" indeed.

Alien-looking. Amorphously-shaped. SUV's with stark,"dragonfly" headlights. Boxy-looking awkwardly-proportioned trucks, "disguised" as luxury vehicles--with a stance so high one almost needs a stepladder to board them.

And not just ugly cars...some are truly hideous- and those are usually the American-made ones; the basic reason why U.S. auto manufacturing has gone from the boom of the 50's-60's, to the bust of the 2010's. The entire industry is now on life support.

The tradition of cars in  America is similar to the romance of the Wild West from 1850 to 1890. Like the horse, Americans grew up to have a love affair with the automobile, and the places it could take them.

How important are cars to Americans?

Look at the thousands of “car shows" that annually take place around the country - evidence that Americans appreciate and cherish the automobiles of the PAST. When you see a  chrome-laden "classic" car drive by, it's almost a shock how far we've regressed. 

The old classics looked stunningly beautiful; they had power; they had cachet; they were fun to drive. They were basic in design, and could be repaired by almost anyone.

Americans bought them by the tens of millions. Everyone grew up surrounded by a "four-wheeler" civilization of gasoline-fueled prosperity.

We are a land of freedom-- a country that worships the bold and the beautiful-- and we named our cars to reflect it: Mustang; Challenger; Cutlass; Roadrunner, Impala; Eldorado.

Cars have been the very essence of both our culture and economy. "Get your motor running... head out on the highway." Indeed, the auto truly has defined our freedom to go anywhere, at anytime, to any place.

And throughout the 20th century, our economy was the envy of the world, largely because of the auto industry. 

When Henry Ford invented the assembly line in1908, the auto industry eventually evolved into the "umbrella" of our prosperity: a vertically-integrated econo-monster of wealth generation, spawning tens of millions of  jobs, and with it, a middle class lifestyle that begat worker (and family) security.

Autos supported the steel industry, which required raw materials, such as iron ore, limestone, and coke (coal). The iron ore had to be transported from Minnesota  to the Great Lakes region, giving rise to our once-great shipping and mining industries.

Then sprouted a huge, nationwide network of auto suppliers, who made the parts that were trucked to the assembly lines-- companies that made everything from mufflers to sun visors.

The factories making the cars gave rise to an affluent middle class of auto workers that generously supported the local economies where they lived.

Once the cars were made, they had to be sold.

Thousands of dealer/service outlets came into existence, which employed sales people, clerical and support workers, mechanics, lot attendants, etcetera; yet another mainstay to the local towns and cities where they were located.

Selling cars created a flourishing credit industry (GMAC- FoMoCo) and the professional people necessary to provide the financing.

But as the auto industry goes, so goes America; and now that humpty-dumpty has fallen, all the king's horses and men won't put humpty (GM) together again: our government has expropriated the auto industry - and with it, the fate of our economy.

Barack Obama-- having grown up in a foreign land-- fails to recognize that cars are not just a part of America 's culture. Cars ARE America !  We are joined at the hip.

Now, having seized control of Chrysler and GM, Mr. Obama has haughtily declared..."thou shalt be forced to make the green cars of the future."

Obama's decree is reflective of his attitude toward the economy in general. He chooses to put America on an ominous path-- with green cars leading the way. 

But why? By destroying the auto industry, Obama removes the biggest obstacle to his ultimate objective: making government the number-one industry!  It'll be Washington now as the "final determiner" of everyone's prosperity.

Mr. O-Bomb-a isn't content to bail out GM & Chrysler -- he intends to blow them out,  forcing them to make cars that nobody wants, and they certainly won't buy.

Americans-- having grown up around the beauty and artful design of conventional cars -- will shun the horrid-looking, insect-like green cars in droves.

And what shall these ugly "green" cars be named? The Chevy Centipede? The Chrysler Flea? The Dodge Deviant? Can there be such a thing as a convertible-topped electric car? Can you "tailgate" from them? 

So why bother making them?

When it comes to reviving the traditional American auto industry--- Obama not only doesn't get it-- he doesn't want it.

He will go to no end (block domestic drilling) to make sure gas prices keep rising-- literally forcing Americans behind the wheel of these ugly little death-boxes.

Lots of luck Mr. Obama!

Unlike cap 'n trade, and govt.health care (intangibles) , you won't be able to convince Americans to drive green cars, which ARE tangible; they are visual, and they're ugly---that's the bottom line.

And similar to President Ford's metric initiative of the seventies-- you can legislate, you can promulgate, you can fabricate (lie), you can go to no end; but you cannot force a freedom-loving nation into anything - especially tiny green cars that lack room, and must be plugged in all night to go even forty miles. 

PREDICTION: Obama's 'green car revolution" will be the biggest flop in the auto industry since the Delorean.

Although a beautiful design, the Delorean car had a benign, putt-putt engine that could not safely merge onto the Interstate; a car-- because of its "gull-winged" doors-- would entrap drivers every time they pulled into a space in a crowded lot. The gull-doors were a disaster, and the highly-touted DeLorean became a faded memory.

To Americans, cars are not just transportation; cars are worshipped; they denote status; they are regarded as things of beauty...art on wheels.

Like no other country, cars are many things to many Americans. We use them to move things; our groceries; our tools; our furniture-- even all of our possesions when we change adresses.

And to anyone who ever has lost a job, our cars have always served as shelter: You can't drive your house, but you can live in your car.

Americans cannot be forced to "go back to the future" --a future without conventional cars. We are addicted to gasoline. We love the smell of it; we love the power of it; and we love the jolt to our economy that it's provided for the last 100 years.

Long live the Edsel.