Cars and Their Enemies SummaryIn the July 1997 issue of Commentary, James Q. Wilson challenges the consensus among top automobile scholars in his bold article, Cars and Their Enemies enemies. Aimed at the general public, his article discredits many of the supposed disadvantages of the automobile raised by experts, proves that the personal car is booming and will continue to thrive because it meets individual preferences over other means of transportation , and presents solutions for the social costs of the automobile. Wilson emphasizes that no matter what is said and done to eliminate the social costs of motoring, experts will not stop campaigning against the practice. Wilson begins his article with a hypothetical scenario in which the proposal for mass production of the automobile is implemented. raised today as a topical issue. As part of this fictional scenario, he explains that many predictions and aggressive complaints about the negative effects of the automobile on society would be made and that because of such strong opposition, the personal car would likely not see the light of day. day. Wilson returns to this scenario later in the article, explaining that residents of a country without cars would be forced to have small homes, located in large, dense cities where the streets are clogged with pedestrians, trucks and bus (Wilson 22). . He also insists that traveling to such a country would be difficult and that when you did, the only places you could go would be crowded areas that could accommodate a nearby train stop (Wilson 22). Wilson insists that living in such a nation would be unpleasant, with many serious problems, unlike the trivial ones used by anti-automotive critics to discourage car use today. A...... middle of paper ......sts as they continue to try to get people out of their cars to no avail. To mitigate social costs, Wilson offers a variety of suggestions such as increasing gasoline taxes, but argues that this will never happen in a nation as democratic as the United States, another concept critics must understand (Wilson 22). He cites what he thinks are more realistic suggestions such as creating more bike lanes, banning cars from roads likely to be pedestrian centers and imposing tolls on bridges that lead to the city ​​(Wilson 22). He insists that even if social costs decline significantly over time, that won't stop critics from attacking him. Wilson concludes by explaining why the campaign against the car will never end: “Critics don't like everything the car stands for and everything the car represents. society builds to meet the needs of its occupants” (Wilson 22).