So, given the insanity that VW is facing, I certainly can't blame them for skirting idiotic laws.
-Renegade
If you truly believe that, that's pretty sad Ren. Even coming from someone who likes to occasionally throw the proverbial "alligator over the transom" just to get people thinking and talking. (Which is something I
can appreciate.
)
But ok. Even granting the benefit of the doubt to some of what you're saying,
why did VW choose to do it the way they did?If VW were so convinced of the insanity of existing EPA regs, why didn't they
publicly challenge them, ideally in conjunction with the other major auto manufacturers, if the existing and planned future regulations were so obviously going in the wrong direction? It wouldn't take much to get public support behind them and force Congress's hand if it could be clearly demonstrated that the existing regs cause more harm - or significantly less benefit - than the government is claiming. Especially when it means it adds a significant
increase to the price the average driver has to pay for a car.
If the so-called bad regulations could be shown for what they are, they'd get changed in fairly short order. Figure a year or two at most. Because the one place you can always hit an American, and be guaranteed to get their full attention, is their checkbook.
Sorry. Bad laws need to be
confronted. Not sidestepped because someone claims that "better information" or a "higher reality" is guiding them. That's the same argument that's used to justify "teaching the controversy" in public schools. Or denying access to information abput legal medical alternatives to women who, out of necessity, attend publicly funded health clinics. Or deciding there's a "higher truth" that grants you an exemption from your sworn duty as a public official to uniformly issue marriage licenses.
If everyone gets to have their own private laws and interpretations, you're heading toward an eventual breakdown of any legal system that allows it to become commonplace. And that can only result in a far greater set of problems for our society than the problem of a bad regulation itself. Because that's claiming
privilege - from the Latin
privilegium meaning "law applying to
one person, bill of law in favor of or against an
individual." And that's hardly a way to run a society based on
shared freedoms, rights, and legal protections - no matter how flawed the attempts taken to achieve those goals.
VW chose to take the easy and gutless way out. Whether or not they felt they were justified in doing so, that's still not the way to do things. And whatever
entirely predictable problems they're now suffering through were brought on purely by their decision to evade rather than fix an allegedly broken law.
I have zero sympathy for VW at this point. What I do feel bad about is the possible adverse impact this may have on the overall German economy. Because VW is a major player. And a lot of innocent employees, along with the larger German public, will ultimately have pay the price for VW's transgressions once the government is forced to step in. And I'm sure the German government will eventually be forced to do so. (Just like our own government was forced to bail out crooked bankers here in order to avoid a major financial crisis that would have affected everyone.)
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I certainly have missed those drawn out threads we've gotten into over the years. This place is the best!