The Cars Are Evil School

For John, BLUF:  .  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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'ALL CARS ARE BAD':  Pete Buttigieg's Equity Advisers Want You To Stop Driving

Here is the sub-headline:

Transportation secretary's equity committee aims to bring 'diversity' and 'inclusion' to America's infrastructure

From The Washington Free Beacon, by Reporter Charles Hilu, 1 September 2023.

Here is the lede plus three:

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is appointing a group of "leading experts" to advise him on "transportation equity," including several who argue that cars cause climate change and promote racism and therefore should be phased out.

Buttigieg earlier this month appointed 24 new members to his Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity, an Obama-era body that Buttigieg is reviving after the Trump administration scrapped it.  Included on the committee is Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, a "spatial policy scholar" who says "ALL CARS ARE BAD" given that they cause "a myriad of environmental issues and conditions."  Another Buttigieg appointee, self-described "transportation nerd" Veronica Davis, argued in an August essay that cars perpetuate "systemic racism" and are therefore "the problem" in America's transportation system.

Buttigieg's appointments—and his decision to revive the equity advisory committee—reflect the Biden administration's whole-of-government emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion.  President Joe Biden shortly after taking office in 2021 issued an executive order that called on federal agencies to "pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all."  Under the order, agency heads must conduct an "equity assessment" to identify policies that create "systemic barriers" in minority communities.

The committee will advise Buttigieg on "promising practices to institutionalize equity into agency programs, policies, regulations, and activities" and plans to meet for the first time this fall, according to Buttigieg's August announcement.  Marpillero-Colomina told the Washington Free Beacon that she is not "advocating for a complete erasure" of cars but intends to push Buttigieg to move America away from its reliance on private motor vehicles.

Regarding equity, we should all be in favor.  However, we should all have a sensae of the future we are lookoing for.  Is it one where we roll back the advantages of some to gain equity. or is it one where we advance some so they have equity with others?  The folks at this Equity Advisory Committee of the Department of Transportation sound like they are the "roll back" kind.

Free Enterprise, and oother freedoms, have allowed hundreds of millions to lead a better life.  I would hate to see that global progress come to a halt, so we can have equity at a lower level of prosperty.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff