The House of Representatives’ failure to spike a federal "kill switch" mandate means that outside of a political miracle, all new vehicles from 2026 onward will be required to incorporate "advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology." It will "passively monitor the performance of a driver" and automatically disable the vehicle "if impairment is detected." In other words: You will no longer have control of your car. Some outside entity — human or program — could, at any time, make it inoperable.
Naturally, the message repeaters have assured us that talk of a kill switch is just more right-wing conspiracy theory hyper-frenzy. After all, this is about safety. Think of the lives it will save! No more hit-and-runs caused by drunk drivers. No more near-sighted old codgers not seeing the 12-year-old girl until it was too late. You breathe a word against this wonderful new thing and you out yourself as a monster who wants children dead.
Of course, the elephant in the corner is: What assurance do we have that "impairment" just means drunkenness, drug use — the usual things? What assurance do we have that this narrow definition will never be widened?
"Impairment" means whatever they say it means.
We now live in a world where the Department of Justice describes parents objecting to porn being read in classrooms and kept in school libraries as "domestic terrorists"; where FBI swat teams in full Robocop beat down the doors of Catholic, pro-life activists as if they were drug lords; where clear cases of self-defense are prosecuted as hate crimes; where lawyers are arrested and duck walked through county jails for the audacity of representing a client the Borg hates; and where people with regime-opposite opinions/affiliations are described as "f-cking animals" before being personally threatened and given the photobomb treatment.
Does anyone think "impairment" won’t be widened so the Borg can punish its enemies more? Especially when its members are openly talking about the need for Republicans, Trump voters, and conservatives to be "reprogrammed"? Sure, some of these people, like David Atkins and Katie Couric are small potatoes and nobodies. But Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Lady Frankenstein who won a Pulitzer for creating a freakazoid fantasy of American history that’s now being taught to grade schoolers? Hillary Clinton? If these power reservoirs are making this sentiment public, the vast layers beneath them in the left’s hierarchy are openly salivating for it. Redefinitions of the word will be cheered by them.
Since "impairment" probably will be redefined by the Borg, the kill switch is perfectly positioned to be weaponized in the future, another wheel in the social credit system in the process of being built here at home. Express an "extremist" view on Facebook? That might mean a week with a non-functioning car. Does your banking history show you donated to Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, your local pro-life group, or even just your church (the one that still hatefully insists marriage is between a man and a woman)? You might be too dangerous to let on the road.
Americans will then be faced with a stark choice: Hold fast to their convictions or dilute them to gain the privilege of driving. And if you are still dependent on your car to go to work (you’re not going to live in a 15-minute city), or need to drive 200 miles to see your parents or your kids, what choice are you going to make?
But even if the kill switch were simply about saving lives and "impairment" were forever narrowly defined, implementing it would still be a dagger to independence. Today, the onus for being a responsible driver is on you. No fairy godfather prevents us from texting and driving, no good witches of the interstate protect us against highway hypnosis, no cricket with a top hat appears to warn us not to drink before sliding into the driver’s seat. Instead, we have to do what we ought and not what we want.
Unsurprisingly, this was the idea of freedom held by the founders, by Lincoln, by John Paul II, and pretty much every ordinary American through the first half of the 20th century. More importantly, according to these men, independence could only be maintained among a population that believed in, cherished, and strove for this idea of freedom.
When cars without Kill Switches are outlawed. Only outlaws will have cars without Kill Switches.