I was the first on the bandwagon to complain about the waste and high salaries of Detroit’s Big 3 , GM, Ford and Chrysler but after seeing the utter disrespect from the Senate, and seemingly the opinion of the American public, I can’t help but think how selfish we all may be acting given what American Automakers have meant to this country over the last 100 years.

Ever since Henry Ford introduced mass production and the assembly line to the world, Americans have had a love and fascination with the car, the American car that has touched every single part of our culture and every American from an early age.

The American Auto Industry was the sole principle in driving our economy for almost 100 years !  When we think of what the Big 3 have done for us for generations, it now seems a little selfish that we should make them, of all people,  jump through hoops and beg for a little help, yet companies like our nations banks and A.I.G simply asked for money without any accountability and walked away from Washington with a check.

We love our cars in America and the car business has been good to us.  The onset of mass production of the Ford Model T propelled America into an economic force around the world through most of the 1900’s.  What would we have produced to put us on the world stage if not that ?

Detroit makes jeeps and trucks that have transported our troops in battle since WWI.  Many factories in Detroit and around the Midwest converted to make the tanks, and other much needed vehicles that defeated the German Army in WWI.  If not them, then who would have done it ? Where would we have gotten them ?

The Auto Industry has provided millions of jobs and support businesses in this country that far exceeds any other, industry for the longest time in history, ever!   They have supported, sometimes exclusively,  our most precious past times..Baseball, Football, Basketball, the Olympics, and many others with billions in advertising revenue for as far back as I remember.

We don’t just like our cars, we worship them.

Every kid for the last 100 years, male or female,  has a toy car somewhere if not many in their toy box.  Growing up as  kids we all wanted the latest slot car track, with the glow in the dark headlights, upside down loops, Barbie Dream Cars, Hot wheels, Model Cars, Beds shaped like cars, Remote Control Cars, the list goes on, and that love and fascination only gets stronger when we become adults.

Some of our most memorable and successful movies, songs, and T.V. shows are about cars,  and we spend billions in after market accessories to customize our own.  For God’s sake, some of your kids are named after a car, and many of them were conceived in the back seat of one !

There is no other American product that we worship so dearly, and with so much pride.  Our cars are statements.  We are so enamored with them that we spend money just to see them in car shows, NASCAR Races, Monster Truck Rallies, Indy Car, Formula 1, Cart, Super League, World Touring, Street and Cross country rallies, and there are thousands of Car Clubs around this country that are ages old dedicated to every make and model of American Car ever produced.  Can you think of any other American product that commands that much respect ?  There isn’t one.

The Big 3 in Detroit don’t just make cars, they are a part of American culture.  As much a part of America as Baseball and Apple Pie, maybe even more so.  These are not just some Wall Street companies that got too big for their britches, these are our companies. Started from the ground up. By Americans and they have supported Americans for 100 years.  American Auto companies have always been there when we needed them, and have contributed tremendously to the fabric of our society, our culture and communities. Entire cities were built around them, and their factories, and entire generations of families exist because of the economies that they provided.

The American car and the Companies that produce them are the longest standing symbol of American pride and ingenuity.

After all that they have done for us, and all that they have given us for so long, isn’t it a little selfish that we now turn our backs on them ?

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