I don't like large pickup trucks. I've decided that if I ever run for an elected office, one of my first agenda items would be to eliminate the daily use of them. One of my biggest gripes about them is that they aren't needed for day to day commuting that the majority of people do. Sure it's the "American way" to do everything big and ostentatiously but that's just the consumerism/righteousness of our society that I feel is another problem.. I'm better then you and get to do what I want, how I want, and when I want. Blah. Shut up and get a real job you damn hippy! Okay back the first rant.

According to fueleconomy.gov (www.fueleconomy.gov) the best fuel economy truck is the Ram 1500 2WD is 25mpg combined. The best car without electric assistance is the Ford Fiesta at 37mpg. That's a 12mpg difference. According to here (www.fhwa.dot.gov)the average miles driven a year is 13,476. That means that the Ram is going to use ~539 gallons and the Ford will use ~364 gallons a year. Here (www.eia.gov)states that the average gas price is $3.309 and diesel is $3.977 per gallon. So the truck will cost ~2144 and the car will be ~1204. A $940 difference a year. The Ram's starting MSRP is ~24385 and the Fiesta is ~$14100 with a difference of $10285. Let's say the average ownership of a vehicle is 6 years the car is saving $5640 in gas, for a total of $15925 in savings over the truck. That's a pretty big chunk of change.

That alone should make people switch. Here's some more fun facts: in 2012 we imported 3,120,755 gallons of crude oil seen here (www.eia.gov). I couldn't find any statistics of how many of each type of vehicle are on the road, but some the sampling here in Anchorage it seems like there's more trucks then cars. Obama has pushed the idea of getting the mpgs of vehicles up, which I believe these numbers are reflective of that that, but I'd try to get them removed pretty much all together.

I realize it'd never happen, so I'd have a way that people could still drive them as necessary with a permit of some sort where you'd go to UHaul or an equivalent place to rent them for the particular time you needed one. There would be some other exceptions as well; for instance you could have one if you didn't live in a major metropolitan area a.k.a the boonies. Or maybe you could own one but if you weren't visibly hauling anything, the cops would have the right to pull you over and give you a ticket if you couldn't justify why you were driving one. Basically make it annoying to to drive one. Just think, instead of cops having to have a quota for speeding people, they could also have one for trucks muhahaha.

Really, I don't see the daily need for people even here in Anchorage. I get around just find in a front wheel drive car. Also death to hummers. They aren't even utility vehicles..

My second agenda item in my imaginary campaign would be to legalize marijuana and tax the crap out of it like they do alcohol and cigarettes. Maybe we could do that with trucks as well.. This one is actually happening on the state level which makes a lot of sense to me. Like prohibition, the government might as well regulate it and get in front of it instead of always chasing the problem.

Okay, back to work.