The looming collapse of the Big Three automakers is a tragedy, no doubt, but one that presents an unprecedented opportunity for Democrats to do much more than just keep the industry afloat.
After all, besides the 4 percent of our GDP and millions of jobs Detroit provides, let us not forget the flip side of what this industry does. It produces large, noisy, dangerous machines whose pollution has been directly linked to lung cancer, respiratory ailments, acid rain, urban smog, and global warming. Its cars emit an average of 20 pounds of heat-trapping and ozone-destroying Carbon Dioxide per gallon.
Let's properly frame this bailout. Our train of thought should not be confined to bailing out the auto manufacturers, nor even the millions of jobs under their umbrella. In attaching strings to the $25 billion demanded, we shouldn't simply be restructuring the industry. There's a more permanent, vital institution to all of us that has literally been crying out for a bailout: our climate.
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