‘ The era of Gesture Liberalism is at hand. It may be more amusing than consequential.’
10th January 2014
George Will has some fun with the Usual Suspects.
Americans who exercise consumer sovereignty wherever Barack Obama still tolerates it are constantly disappointing him. For generations they persisted in buying what he calls “substandard” policies from what he calls “bad apple” health insurers. They stopped only when he forced them to stop — when he rescued them from their ignorance by banning their benighted preferences.
Have consumers thanked him for trying to wean them from their desire to drive large, useful, comfortable, safe vehicles that he thinks threaten their habitat, Earth? The 2013 numbers tell the tale of their ingratitude. In 2013, for the 32nd consecutive year, the best-selling vehicle was Ford’s F-Series pickups. This supremacy began, fittingly, in the first year of Ronald Reagan’s deregulatory presidency.
Today’s consumers, who cannot get it through their thick heads that they are supposed to want wee vehicles such as Chevrolet’s Volt, bought 763,402 F-Series trucks. That is 740,308 more than the number of Volts General Motors sold.
…
Today, Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged v. Sebelius may be the second-most serendipitously named court case in U.S. history, second to Loving v. Virginia (wherein Richard Loving, who was white, and his wife Mildred, who was black, in 1967 overturned Virginia’s law against interracial marriages). The Little Sisters are challenging the Obamacare mandate that makes them complicit in providing, through their health insurance, contraception, something that offends their faith.
This mandate illustrates Gesture Liberalism: It is unimportant to the structure of Obamacare. It has nothing to do with real insurance, which protects against unexpected developments — car insurance does not pay for oil changes. The mandate covers a minor expense: Target sells a month of birth control pills for $9 . The mandate is, however, a gesture affirming liberalism’s belief that any institution of civil society can be properly broken to the saddle of the state.
January 31st, 2014 at 18:17
Mr. Will’s attempt to use the sales numbers of two individual models (Ford F150 and Chevy Volt) in some sort of attempt to prove a point about the overall vehicle market seems astoundingly inept. A buyer in the market for a large pickup has basically 4 choices, Ford F150, Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra, Dodge RAM, Toyota Tundra. On the other hand, a buyer in the market for a small fuel efficient vehicle has well over 100 vehicles to choose from. So naturally for small vehicles, there will be a smaller number of sales for each model totaled over many many more models. Comparison of sales of 2 individual models is a witless exercise.
Here’s some actual US sales numbers for 2013:
Small cars, suvs, and EVs. ———— 6.4 million
Mid size cars, suvs, pickups and vans — 5.9 million
Large cars, trucks, suvs ————— 3 million
I have an acquaintance who actually has both an F150 and a Volt in their household. I wonder if Mr. Will would be able to wrap his brain around that.