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Pete Buttigieg’s Highway to Hell

Published

February 18, 2022

USDOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg is using the guise of traffic safety to compel an end to one of America’s most iconic freedoms — to drive where, when and how one wants to, host Laura Ingraham warned in her “Ingraham Angle” commentary.

Federal transportation agencies misleadingly used a double-digit increase in traffic deaths year-to-year in 2021 as part of the reason why traffic safety must be improved in the way Buttigieg sees fit, though ignoring the fact the same liberal politicians kept Americans locked down and off the roads in 2020, which could explain the spike, Ingraham said.

She pointed how Buttigieg recently called the problem with increased traffic deaths a “war,” saying that makes Buttigieg “our general.”

Democrats don’t like that ‘old normal’ where Americans enjoyed their freedoms

“The climate change crazies that control the Biden agenda were never happier than in the spring of 2020: Businesses shuttered, people stopped commuting and they started ordering DoorDash while binge-watching their days away. But now that people are slowly getting back to the office, even in blue states, they want to make permanent the new normal feeling of the pandemic glory days by making private vehicle ownership increasingly difficult for average Americans,” Ingraham said.

“And the sick thing is they’re concealing their plans by wrapping them in the noble goal of reducing traffic accidents and fatalities.”

With highways like Interstate 95 again clogged with traffic from Brickell to Boston, and Americans again enjoying iconic “open roads” like the Blue Ridge Parkway, the left seeks to end such freedoms, Ingraham said.

“This is the vision of America they hate, right along with the house in the suburbs, big families, SUV/gas guzzlers, church on Sunday and their perfect world where climate trumps personal liberty,” she said.

“They’ll be able to keep tabs on you, even limiting how far you drive, if necessary, in emergencies, even redirecting your route to a safer destination or have been far easier than trying to tow those big rigs and Ottawa.”

We must demand to see all of the science behind the lockdowns, social distancing and the masks

One of the reasons Buttigieg and others push for electric vehicles is that they can’t go nearly the distance as internal combustion engines. Battery recharging is needed more often than a fill-up, and takes exponentially longer.

“You have to wonder about the soundness of Biden’s big, heavy push when the king of electric cars, Elon Musk, came out against his build back better plan despite the fact that it was loaded with handouts and subsidies,” she said.

“Yet the left’s quest to transform America’s car culture — it’s not just about swapping out the gas-powered vehicles for the electric vehicles. No, no, no. It’s about taking millions of cars off the roads altogether. Now that becomes obvious when you read the dirty details of Biden’s national road safety strategy Buttigieg was talking about. They released it last month.”

Buttigieg said his goal is zero U.S. traffic fatalities, which Ingraham called “ludicrous” along with rightly noting that every highway death is tragic, but that such a goal is as untenable as “zero COVID”.

She pointed to Colorado, where in order for municipalities to expand highway infrastructure, they have to offset that action with green infrastructure like bike trails, HOV lanes or electric vehicle chargers.

“If local governments exceed their emissions budgets, the state can withhold funding for roads,” she read from one report.

“OK. These are truly sick people. Because their rules always hurt the little guy as the elites get a fast pass to wherever they want to go.”

Collectively, this is why Buttigieg, Biden and the rest of the left actually like seeing the price of fuel continue to spike, Ingraham added — it costs more to drive and disproportionately affects the lower- and middle-classes, which the left hopes will simply stay home as they did in 2020:

“Mayor Pete thinks you should be happy car-less at home, maybe planning your herb garden or hitting the bike trail in the afternoons, maybe using one of those zip cars if you really insist on traveling around town,” Ingraham said.

“As with every issue, the goal of the Biden team is not to make your life better. It’s to force you to behave better, to leave the old notions of freedom behind.”

“They don’t even like the word freedom anymore — while they, though, remain free to go wherever and do whatever, they darn well please.”