There’s an adage in politics that’s been around for years: don’t f*** with people’s cars. While the right to drive where you want, when you want is not formally enshrined in the U. S. Constitution, for decades upon end, it might as well have been.
Messing with people’s cars was one of the third rails of politics — raise tolls, the gas tax or anything else that touches people’s vehicles at your own peril. That’s why gas taxes across the U. S. are exponentially lower than they are in Europe. Politicians concocted Tollway Authorities to create an independent, unelected bad guy to take the blame when tolls had to be raised. It’s why the movement to privatize toll roads never really took off.
But in the last five years, that has all started to change. Cars – and the right to drive them – are not quite as cherished as they used to be.
Fewer sixteen-year-olds than ever are getting their drivers licenses – it’s easier and cheaper to just take an Uber or a Lyft.
Increasingly people keep moving into cities, making cars less necessary.
