Which would be a generally good idea if 99% of the country didn't require a car to do anything.
this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2026
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While i see the issue, there are also definitely habbits that can be changed. I lived in California for a few months and while i mostly cycled, other people in the house drove their car to the store to get breakfast, every single morning
Now i am not pushing cycling on everyone but maybe make breakfast at home or combine the trip? Small changes? I am also not directly accusing you of anything, my european mind was just baffled by such habbits
Living in southern California messes with my head! Perfect weather for cycling and just being outside yet almost everyone just chooses to drive, even on trips 1/2 a mile away.
Though maybe my head has been warped from visiting Europe multiple times but the American car brain cannot comprehend walking somewhere close. It takes more time looking for parking than actually just walking there, it drives me wild!
Anyway I have stopped riding my bike a lot because the routes I take have no bike infrastructure and the drivers here have tried to kill me a few to many times. I usually just resort to Public transportation which disappoints me almost on a daily bases, mostly because I've been to Europe and seen what functional systems look like.
Do you actually walk everywhere where you live, because parts of the city aren't even designed for walking. There are some areas where there's no sidewalks for example. And that doesn't even cover bad public transportation.
It is very different than in European countries.
Yea I unfortunately do. It's very annoying being forced to take the long way because there is no sidewalks. The local council member keeps saying nothing can be done since sidewalks must be installed by the property owner. When I point out that we can remove parking to make a path for pedestrians and maybe bikes, I get ghosted.
Sometimes the sidewalk just ends and I'm forced to unprotected cross 6/7 lane road to get to the other side for a sidewalk. I know my routes now and stopped exploring.
So I 100% agree with you, I feel like a second class citizen. Luckily I still can walk, I feel bad for anyone who is older or in a wheelchair. This city forces them to drive somewhere and if you can't you're stuck.
Doing so would expose the lie at the heart of the neoliberal proposition — that if we gave up our dignity as workers, we would regain it ten times over as consumers.
If you have to do gig work on top of your two conventional jobs, but you still have to be frugal? Well, then it starts to seem like maybe workers sold their rights away for nothing.
The 99% doesn’t want to believe that. But more than that, the 1% really doesn’t want the 99% to believe that.
You’re not wrong. But you’re also not going to see Americans change their thinking on that anytime soon.
Growing up the nearest grocery store was 8 miles away down a highway with no bike lane and no sidewalks if you wanted to walk it. Cyclists get run over fairly often in the area. It's 98 degrees most of the summer. Better pedal fast if you want anything frozen to make it back home. Also there was no public transit option.
Nearest restaurants were a bit further, but you could make it to a gas station in 3 miles.
I live mostly in Germany now and it seems the vast majority of people can access a grocery store, a bakery, and a restaurant/café in a 20 minute walk at most. The few that cannot are at most 20 minutes away from a bus or train stop that will get them to a store.
American infrastructure is nonexistent. We only build it for cars
It's ironic that the country built on freedom forces you to own and drive a car if you want to participate in society. I remember getting my driver's license at 16 and feeling the freedom to finally go anywhere. That rose colored view faded away quickly when I was forced to sit in traffic 5/6 days a week going to school then work and it just never ends. I have no alternative, that's it until we die just sit in traffic with everyone. It's fucking dehumanizing, at least to me it is.
Right, and then you realize “I should have always had that freedom to go anywhere, but there was nothing in walking distance of my childhood home except for other people’s homes and my school.” And I was lucky to have school in walking distance.
I think it's so much worse these days. I read and heard a few nightmare stories of parents getting in trouble for allowing their 10yr old kids outside WITHOUT SUPERVISION. Like that blows my mind, but I might be in the minority to think young kids should be able to survive outside unsupervised?
Yeah it’s bad. I walked to school much younger than that unsupervised, and so did most of my classmates back then…
Yeah, coming from the fucking party that sabotages public transportation on every step and even blocks things like EVs, and renewables.
And during this crisis they also came up with genius idea to remove fuel efficiency restrictions, because every American right now would want their car to use more fuel. /s
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~~Russia~~ US doesn’t pay out for dead soldiers.
~~Russia~~ US rations gas.
~~Russia~~ US is down to the dregs of their munitions.
~~Russia~~ US tells lies about victory in war.
~~Russia~~ US targets civillian infrastructure.
On and on. Trump is just another shitty dictator.
Next on the list will be beating the shit out of people at the polls and jailing them for voting opposition, and I’m sure there’s more I’m missing.
US hasn't paid out for live soldiers with combat or service related injuries for decades - not a new problem. The VA is joke as are any benefits actually being paid out. I am not sure how gas prices aren't higher in the US given the supply issues - as soon as there are spot shortages (no gas available in some locations) prices will go up 25-50% and stay there. I have an aunt that is full MAGA. She lives in that information bubble that confirms everything Trump and MAGA is great and liberals/Dems are the real problem. Fox News and social media feds tell her she's right - even when family members tell her to her face she is wrong possibly crazy. She doesn't listen. And she is not alone. The American government has lied for decades - but the level Trump has taken it to is disturbing. But it also might be the new normal - at least on the right wing side of politics. Enough people plan to vote in November against Trump's plans - of course MAGA plans to do everything they can to disrupt voting and election certifications. It is going to be ugly. Many states won't let you vote in person if you request a mail in ballot - they'll need to revise those rules quickly because if the Post Office stops delivering ballots (likely) in person voting is going to be your only way to vote. And you know that is going to be a shit show at any polling place expected to vote Blue.
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Again a reference to communism, when the price increase is a direct result of unregulated capitalism.
The fact that you associate rationing to communism speaks for itself.
I don't have problem with just communism itself, but so far the Marxist-Leninist version is the one that was implemented around the world and unfortunately it comes with totalitarianism and heavy corruption, which delivers the opposite of what it promised.
The reference is literally in the tweet, Newsom calls trump "Chairman Donald" which should be a fairly obvious dogwhistle.
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Well it's a good thing that every kid in the US is back in school, riding diesel buses to get there.
And it's harvest season.
No problem, drive less.
The best deals, the BIGGEST and BESTEST. Fucking cuck can't even negotiate himself out of an easy one. This is the wet paper bag training course, and he's flunking it magnificently.
I agree but I think he will do the Republican thing and weasel out of it. The whole thing will collapse just as Democrats are elected and left to fix the mess. Then the media will happily pivot to blaming Dems on not fixing the mess fast enough. It's just too predictable at this point.
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All that whining when gas still costs nothing in US.
Yes, but Americans are spoiled and think gas should actually be $1/gallon. If it wasn't for the damn evil regulations and climate crap we would have cheap gas! Other countries just aren't doing capitalism as good as we are that's why we deserve the cheapest gas! I'm not defending it, I'm just pointing out my perspective when people complain to me about gas prices. I don't drive daily only on long trips so I'm disconnected from the prices usually.
Also the fact that the US is huge, spread out, and one of the most car centric countries on the planet. We don't have public transit or alternatives in most parts of the country, so combined with everything else, it makes it hurt a lot more when prices increase. I'm lucky to live in an area that actually has public transit, and also lucky enough to have an EV. Doesn't make the cost of goods any cheaper, of course.
I've got a wild idea for the Americans who keep voting republicans into power: let's fund public transit and get rid of cars, then gas prices don't matter anywhere near as much. You want lower gas prices to make food cheaper? That's the way to do it through reducing demand.
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Wait, isn't he supposed to be on the team that's trying to stop climate change?
Or does he think it's safe to let his backroom deal persona out into the public now?
gas rationing, even when you're trying to reduce gas usage, drives up prices for everything
if you were alive in the 70s, those words strike fear
Liberals won't stop climate change, but some may want to look like they're trying.
Yeah Newsom is an interesting character. Sometimes I don't know what he really stands for. He's been playing the "hate on Trump regarding everything" game for a while though so this is a continuation of that?
Sounds like an opportunist. Someone who just says what he needs to get his way, but has no guiding principles.
I can see how a message like this would sound coming from someone like Bernie Sanders, ie. high prices are squeezing regular people while oil companies bag the profit. Even if it's good for people to drive less from a climate perspective, it has to be done in a way that doesn't harm real people. But this guy just sounds like he's angling for political points with no concern for real issues. Would make a terrible president, so I guess he has high chances to become the Democratic nominee.
Yup! The Democrats will definitely choose him as he is already controversial on the left! They truly are just controlled opposition for the Republican party at this point 😂
Sometimes I don’t know what he really stands for.
He’s like the head of the wing of the Democrats who see MAGA’s cult of personality around Trump and think “man, I wish we had that.”
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I don’t know what he really stands for.
as a long-time california politicks observer:
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i went to a shell station the other day and they were completely out of all but the lowest tier gasoline
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Gas prices? Skill issue, just don't buy it. I haven't bought any in years.
If you buy food, you buy diesel. It's what's in the tractors and delivery trucks.
This is why it's literally impossible for an American to live a two tonne CO2 lifestyle. Emissions are imbedded in the supply chains and government.
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Nice privilege. A lot of the rest of us don't have a choice.
Why is this being downvoted, it's correct. The way shit is set up right now a lot of people do not have a choice but to drive, and not just in the US. Oil has been purposefully made a hard dependence.
We're all on the same team bud. At least you're here in this community hoping one day to be free from the bondage of gasoline! Good luck on your journey!
Nice privilege
Oh yeah, so privileged to have grown up unable to afford to learn to drive a car
Not owning a car in a suburb of Bumfuckville, USA is a much bigger disadvantage than not owning a car in NYC, Tokyo, or Hanoi.
Yes, it is a privilege. I grew up in a rural area (about 60 miles away from the nearest city) with no access to public transportation or services. It would take FOUR HOURS to walk to my nearest friend's house. I also grew up dirt poor and couldn't afford driving school. So, I had to convince friends to show me how to drive, or get friends' parent to show me, and eventually during my senior year, I convinced one of my teachers to let me take the behind the wheel test in his car. All of this because without a license where I grew up, you're never going ANYWHERE. No job, no friends, no mobility to get out of a shitty rural town. So yes, to not have had to do all of that, that is indeed privilege
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Honestly gas rationing is a good thing, fuck oil, fuck burning into climate change. Gavin is not on the left but kinda conservative since he wants to drive gas prices down.
Will this finally convince MAGAts that they fucked up?... nah they still think they are winning.
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