No top-down bicycle politics
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Fri October 03 2008
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Posted Oct 3, 2008
- 10,798
Bicycling with Mark Parman
No top down bicycle politics
It will take a 'grass routes revolution'
While listening to Obama's acceptance speech at the
Democratic National Convention, right after his bit about
limiting our children's TV viewing, I thought to myself
wouldn't it be far-sighted if he followed up with an
announcement that the bicycle would be an integral part of
his energy and transportation plan? I didn't hold my breath
waiting. He didn't mention the bicycling, and I don't
expect him to do so in the future, not when the TV cameras
are rolling anyway. It's not something the average American
wants to hear.
On the other side of the aisle, McCain announcing that the
bicycle could solve some of our problems (pollution,
congestion, obesity, high energy costs) is about as likely
as me winning the Tour de France next July. Republicans at
the Republican National Convention waived signs demanding
"Drill Now" and the crowd chanted "Drill, baby, drill." Not
exactly the kind of crowd that wants to trade SUVs for
bicycles.
Weeks earlier, Obama suggested that millions of gallons of
gas could be saved if motorists got regular tune-ups and
kept their tires pumped to regulation pressure. McCain
quickly scoffed at Obama's statement and mocked him, even
though what the Democratic senator said was true. Later,
McCain recanted. Regular vehicle maintenance and full tires
do save gas. A lot of gas when you consider this country
has more cars than people.
No, it doesn't shock me that neither presidential candidate
will suggest Americans ride bicycles to solve some of our
transportation problems. Saying so would amount to
political suicide. Most of us, it seems, still think we can
drill our way out of $4 a gallon of gas. We live at a time
when practical solutions get mocked and empty slogans and
pipe dreams pass for wisdom and action.
That said, we can't wait for the federal government to fire
a magic bullet. More of us need to start thinking about our
bicycles as a means of transportation, along with a lot of
other alternatives as a way out of the seriously oily mess
we find ourselves in. It's pretty clear that we the people
will have to lead the change. Neither political party has
the understanding or the backbone to pull this off.
If the Republican leadership scoffs at the idea of
increasing motor vehicle efficiency, you can only imagine
what they think about bicycles. And the Democrats won't
mention bicycling for fear of being jeered by Republicans
and ultimately losing votes. That leaves us on the fringe,
like the protesters in the "free speech zones" blocks away
from both national conventions.
When it comes to American energy policy, the bicycle is one
of the unmentionables, right up there with "conservation"
and "sacrifice." Since World War II, both Republicans and
Democrats have thrown billions of dollars at automobile-
dominated infrastructure. They have catered to the
automobile industry and big oil, fashioning a society
utterly dependent on fossil fuels. The current occupants of
the White House are oil men, and one of the current vice
presidential nominees is an oil woman.
In the 2004 presidential election, I remember watching a
news piece about Kerry astride a road bike (a custom-made
Serotta, if I recall correctly). Bush and his mountain
bike, a Wisconsin-made Trek, has been in the news several
times. (The latter has a penchant for crashing, it seems.)
Both politicians ride their bicycles for recreation and not
transportation. In fact, the official Bush administration
policy doesn't even consider the bicycle as viable
transportation.
A little over a year ago, Secretary of Transportation Mary
Peters said on PBS that projects like bike paths and trails
"are really not transportation." Apparently my neighbor up
the street driving his blue Hummer H3 to work is legit,
while I'm a noncommuter pedaling to work on my Surly. I
have no idea if Peters believed what she said or was just
regurgitating Bush administration policy. Regardless, her
comment mobilized cyclists and generated an outpouring of
negative responses. She should have known better. Bicycle
and foot traffic account for 10 percent of our trips in
this country, yet we get only 1.5 percent of the federal
funding. Even if it is a pittance, at least the feds give
us a bone now and again, so somebody there must think that
walkers and cyclists do have a slight bit of legitimacy.
Early in Bush's first term, we could buy gas for about
$1.20 a gallon. We all know the price of a gallon has more
than tripled since then. One would think that our next
president would start to take the bicycle and alternative
energy more seriously. But the chants of "drill, baby,
drill" echoing through the Xcel Center in St. Paul,
Minnesota, don't give me much hope and confidence.
Energy cost prognosticators suggest drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge would lower oil prices in 12 to 15
years by 40 cents to a $1 per barrel - just pennies per
gallon. But what's the difference between $3.80 and $3.78
per gallon?
It's no news bicyclists have been marginalized this
presidential election season (as in the previous dozen or
so). We have no cadre of highly paid lobbyists hobnobbing
in D.C. advancing our interests. Yet this lack of access to
government has prompted a political response. Some cyclists
have joined committees or coalitions at local and state
levels where the powers that be are more receptive to
bicyclists.
Others have taken their fight to the streets. A group from
Madison, for instance, rode their bikes to the Republican
National Convention in St. Paul, a self-titled "grass
routes" caravan (see pnc2rnc.org). Critical Mass has long
used the bicycle as a vehicle of protest, even making news
during the Republican National Convention in New York City
in 2004. Their headquarters was raided in a pre-emptive
strike by the police just before the convention started
quashing the group's hopes for action in St. Paul.
Others, like me, put stickers on our bikes and ride them to
work and on errands: "One Less Car,", "Bikes Not Bombs,",
"No Blood For Oil,","Cars R Coffins" and "Ride a Bike -
Start a Revolution."
I particularly like that last one. It has to begin at the
individual level, because it's obvious that it's not going
to come from the top down. The bicycle has always been, and
will probably always be, a "grass routes" kind of vehicle.
Mark Parman lives in Wausau, Wisconsin, where he teaches
English and journalism at the University of Wisconsin-
Marathon County..
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