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September 6, 2008 11:17:55 PM CDT

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Keep the Hummer: Save America's Soul

Posted Jul 12, 08 2:00 PM CDT in Opinion,  Business 

(Newser) – Sure, the Hummer is more of a "cartoon" than a vehicle, a ridiculously over-the-top gas-guzzling monstrosity. But the unbridled optimism it takes to manufacture it—and to fill up the tank—is what makes it uniquely American, writes Matthew DeBord in the Washington Post. If GM axes it, or, heaven forfend, takes it hybrid, we’ll lose yet another chip off the American soul. It's just too cool to die.

“The whole point of the Hummer is that it chugs fuel, and chugs it proudly, devoid of any sort of neurotic preoccupation with gloomy prophecies of Peak Oil or gas at 10 bucks a gallon,” DeBord writes. “For American life to work, the illusion of endless abundance must be maintained. Sure, we must adapt to a future of less-abundant natural resources. … But we require vestiges of the old dream to sustain our national optimism.”

Source Washington Post

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A Hummer dealership.   (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A long row of unsold 2008 Hummer H3s.   (AP Photo)
GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner.   (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower)
The Hummer HX prototype on display at the New York International Auto Show.   (AP Photo)
A Hummer in a race.   (AP Photo)
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auto industry  • General Motors  • hybrid car  • America  • SUV  • Hummer  • American  • optimism


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