the great car-owning democracy

Not libertarian but anti-social: It is about the rise of the anti-social elements who believe they should be allowed to do what they want, whenever they want, regardless of the consequences.

George Monbiot The Hindu Wednesday, Dec 21, 2005- Guardian

I believe that while there are many reasons for the growth of individualism in the U.K., the extreme libertarianism now beginning to take hold begins on the road. When you drive, society becomes an obstacle. Pedestrians, bicycles, traffic calming, speed limits, the law: all become a nuisance to be wished away. The more you drive, the more bloody-minded and individualistic you become. The car is slowly turning us (the British), like the Americans and the Australians, into a nation that recognises only the freedom to act, and not the freedom from the consequences of other people's actions.

It is strange to see how the car has been overlooked as an agent of political change. We know that the breaking of the unions, the dismantling of the welfare state and the sale of council houses that Margaret Thatcher pioneered made us more individualistic. But the way in which the transition from individualism to the next phase of neoliberalism — libertarianism — was assisted by her transport policies has been largely ignored. She knew what she was doing. She spoke of "the great car-owning democracy," and asserted that "a man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure." Her road-building programme was an exercise in both civil and social engineering. "Economics are the method," she told us, "the object is to change the soul."