Hillary, social engineer extraordinaire, has decided to delve into the world of automobile engineering and rework America from the inside out. Leave it to Hillary to wear her knowledge of internal Combustion, Multi-Point Fuel Injection and variable spark duration like a velvet glove only to reach deep into heart of the American family and squeeze the life out of it.

From her Website:

What worries me most about this is that Hillary and her liberal pals seem to think liberal ideas act independently of the laws of physics. Despite the fact that fuel efficiency has doubled since 1972 when the clamp down truly initiated, we are not necessarily capable of repeating this feat every 30 years. Much of Fuel efficiency has more to do with car weight, gear ratios and other factors that are not endless sources of innovation. There are advances to be made in such things as spark duration and quality, turbo systems, tire construction, etc. but realistically any major advance in those categories might yield a 1-2 mpg gain at the cost of huge amounts of research.

What we are left with is an order to tall to fill. As automobiles have increased in fuel efficiency they have increased in price as well, and it's no coincidence. Fuel efficiency is born out of engineering, which costs lots of money. Who will pay for it? The consumer.

In 1972, when Ralph Nader got his hands on the 426 Hemi, the average MPG was 13.5 miles. Today the standard is 25 mpg. The average cost of an automobile in 1972 (adjusted for inflation) was $17,075. Today it's over $28,000! If Hillary was to get hr way, by 2055, accounting for inflation we could have car prices averaging well over $100,000 to pay for the increase in technology and research.

But I am thinking that Hillary and the Dems are imagining another way to achieve these goals with less reliance on automobile engineering and more on some serious social engineering.

The Bush administration bucked up the U.S. auto industry Tuesday in the fight over tougher fuel economy standards, telling Congress the president likely would veto an energy bill if it contains the Senate's fuel economy provisions.

The move creates another hurdle for backers of the Senate's plan to set a standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for new cars and trucks, who were unable to force a vote on the proposal in the House after intense lobbying by Detroit automakers and Toyota Motor Corp. n a letter to House and Senate leaders Monday, Allan Hubbard, director of the president's National Economic Council, said the administration would recommend a veto of any energy bill if it combined cars and trucks under the same fuel economy target, as the Senate bill does. Hubbard said President George W. Bush also would receive a recommendation to veto the bill for several other reasons, such as tax increases or mandating renewable energy sources for electric utilities.

...Democrats have said that instead of naming a conference committee to hammer out a compromise between the energy bills that have passed each chamber, they plan to fashion a unified bill on their own. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., support the Senate's fuel economy plan. Link

Put it together folks. Hillary is making near impossible goals for cafe standards. At the same time we have Dems on the hill pushing for a more stringent standard of classification of SUV's and automobiles, that would make SUV's and work trucks in the same class as a Honda Civic. This not only would be a major crushing blow to the American worker who needs a pickup at an affordable cost to do his work, but also to the American mother, who needs a car she can fit her kids and groceries in.

If these stringent CAFE dreams become law, and Hillary sings in sweeping reclassifications of SUV's, the American family will have three choices: Own two cars instead of one (hope you have a spare $200,000), have less kids, or invest in Schwinn.

Auto Engineering meet Social Engineering.

Henry Ford, meet Aldous Huxley.