Failing To Understand

In this article posted on MSN today, we are informed as readers and would-be consumers that there are even more "green" cars out there than we know of. And why don't we know of them? Because we don't live in California. Apparently, the government won't allow automakers to sell the ultra green cars outside a few states---California, New York, and a couple others.

It isn't the fact that I can't get my hands on one of these cars because they aren't available here that bothers me. What does is that they aren't available here because the government won't allow them. Why won't they? It actually boggles my mind---we could be driving our zero-emissions cars up here too, helping Portland's other-than-pristine air conditions (and also put a stop to the SUV hypocrisy). Further, the car manufacturers could sell their product wherever they had a customer base...which I think would encourage them to produce more clean cars. In this case, they are doing two things at once---forbidding a manufacturer to sell a product, and forbidding a consumer to buy it. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth...