WELCOME TO DRIVE AMERICAN!

American cars are as well-built as imports and always have been. People who believe foreign cars are better are victims of propaganda! This site is dedicated to independent thinkers everywhere who have enough self-assurance and intelligence to resist the influence of the media. Citizens who still believe in this great country and their fellow citizens can be proud here!

Many Americans argue that it's OK to buy Japanese cars because:

• It's fair. International trade is good for everyone.
• Japanese cars are more reliable and better than American cars.
• Japanese cars are made in the U.S. and provide jobs for Americans.
• There's no such thing as an American-made car any more.
• American companies are using the patriotism factor to sell lower quality cars.
• It's the unionized workers' fault. They're lazy, incompetent, unresponsive, and overpaid.

I am going to dismantle these transparent rationalizations one by one:

It's fair. Some people say that the huge numbers of Japanese cars being sold in the U.S. is just an example of successfull free trade. Japan produces a quality product, increasing our choices, and we buy the product we choose. That much is true. The reason I think it's not fair for the Japanese to sell their cars here in the U.S. is because the Japanese system of interlocking ties between manufacturers and their suppliers and distributors make it almost impossible for American companies to sell cars in Japan. It's as simple as that. They want to make money by selling cars to us but don't want to give us the same opportunity. If American cars really are inferior in quality, what are they afraid of? In my opinion, this is enough reason alone to not buy Japanese cars. It's not fair.

Japanese cars are better than American cars. A lot of people think that American cars are so poorly made that they constantly break down and require continuous and expensive maintenence. They think the opposite about Japanese cars. They think Japanese cars are solidly built and will run forever. Both of these extremes are myths. The idea that American cars are unreliable is an urban legend with no foundation in fact. I have always driven American cars and I've never had a problem beyond fair wear and tear with any of them. I know someone who put 300,000 miles on a Buick. I believe that American cars are equal in quality based on my experience with them. I believe that polls and comparisons that show American cars as lagging in quality are biased. In fact, my experience has been so completely different than what everyone thinks I strongly suspect that America has been the victim of a misinformation campaign and most of our citizens have swallowed it hook, line, and sinker! Another reason I don't understand this argument is that people who swear they'll never buy an American car because of its quality, will buy a Toyota made in Missisippi! What's the difference?

Japanese cars are made in the US anyway and provide jobs for Americans. It doesn't matter that Japanese cars are made in the United States. Yes, this is a convenient excuse for those of you who bought Japanese but even if the car is made in the US, the profit still leaves the country. And the foreign car manufacturers that do build cars in the US are given enormous advantages in tax concessions and are often outright given the land on which they build their factories. Plus their plants are always in the lower-wage states. These circumstances conspire to allow foreign car manufacturers to produce cars at less cost, even here in the U.S., giving them an unfair advantage.

There's no such thing as an American-made car any more. People say Ford and General Motors are outsourcing; no cars are really made in the US anymore. No cars can be considered to be truly American. This rationalization is the one that I hate the most. People who buy Japanese cars justify it by saying that it's an international market and the consumer should be free to buy whatever he chooses. Yet when American car manufacturers do that and use some foreign components in their cars, they use that fact to claim that there are no true American cars any more and further justify buying Japanese. How someone can use this fact as an excuse to buy foreign is beyond me.

American cars were produced wholly in this country until the Japanese started flooding the country with huge numbers of cars at artificially low prices. American companies were and are having trouble producing cars of the same quality at the same price as foreign producers. One of the reasons for this is most foreign countries have socialized health care which means it doesn't cost the foreign manufacturer as much to pay their employees. American companies reorganized to meet this challenge and outsourced some of their production --just to stay in business! And now Americans are using that fact as another excuse to not buy American cars.

People love to say, "You can't tell if a car is American-made any more". For those of you too ignorant to figure this out, let me give you a quick tutorial: If it says Ford or Chevrolet or Cadillac, it's American-made. If it says Toyota, Honda, or Mitsubishi, it's Japanese and no matter where it's manufactured, the profit made when it's sold goes straight to Tokyo. Can you figure it out now?

American car manufacturers use patriotism to sell cars. If a manufacturer produced a shoddy product and then advertised that not buying it was unpatriotic, I agree that it would be an unfair practice. Personally I don't think I've ever seen this tactic myself. I think that the backlash against an advertising ploy this transparent would be counter-productive. I do realize that there is a common notion that it's patriotic to buy American and many people do feel that way but I don't. I believe in buying American, not to support some abstract idea of God and Country or a waving American flag but more out of a sense of pride, supporting my fellow workers, and a belief in fair play.

It's the unionized workers fault. I saved this argument 'til last because it's my pet peeve. It seems to be in vogue these days to talk bad about ourselves: Americans are uninformed and uneducated. Americans are ignorant of what goes on outside their country. Americans don't have an honest work ethic. Americans have a sense of entitlement. That's Bullshit! I don't believe it! Yes we have our share of dim-witted and lazy folks but they are the minority. We have an abundance of talent in this country. In the course of my life I have worked with some of the most intelligent, inspired, and hard working people there are. And they're Americans! Americans shaped this century! Don't tell me Americans are lazy, stupid, corrupt, or lack vision! American are among the best people on earth! They are honest and hardworking and selflessly contribute to the community. And the people who say that the people who produce American cars are lazy and overpaid are just plain wrong. Are the people that you work with lazy and overpaid? I doubt it. What makes people think that working for an automobile plant automatically makes them shiftless and incompetent? This is another example of propaganda. I urge everyone to think for themselves and critically analyze this type of propaganda the next time you hear it.

In summary, there is no good reason to buy a Japanese car and every reason not to. There are cars built right here in America that are of equal or better quality. Drive American!