“Most people owe their very existence to the car, or at least to its back seat,” satirical writer P.J. O’Rourke began his discussion at Cato on Tuesday, where he argued that lawmakers are destroying the American car — and the fantasy it creates — as we know it.
“There was no premarital sex in America before the invention of the internal combustion engine,” O’Rourke continued. “You couldn’t sneak a girl into the rec room of your house because your mom and dad were unable to commute so they were home all day working on the farm.”
Although he spoke with his characteristically amusing style, one that lands him in the top spot of “The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Humorous Quotes,” it was clear while discussing his newest book, “Driving Like Crazy: Thirty Years of Vehicular Hell-bending,
Celebrating America the Way It’s Supposed to Be — With an Oil Well in Every Backyard, a Cadillac Escalade in Every Carport and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Mowing Our Lawn” (wow, what a title!), that he is genuinely saddened America’s love affair with the car will come to an end thanks to Congress.
“Pity the poor American car when Congress and the White House gets through with it. … Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid may think they were transported home from the maternity league on a big fluffy cloud supported by cherubs. I know I went home in a car,” he zinged.
