Fred Barnes: Americans Mainly Want to Stay in Their Cars
And they are basically asking why we can't change this: 
(by Atwater Village Newbie)
Into this:
(copyright: Lee from t.sina.com.cn)
based on a tax that has not kept up with inflation nor has it kept up with improved fuel economy that puts in less money for the same wear and tear and the same demand for more space on the roads. (Not that it ever paid for all roads in full ever.)
This comment from from Streetsblog Capitol Hill by Ben Fried basically summaries the issues:
Read more at http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/11/03/fred-barnes-americans-mainly-want-to-stay-in-their-cars/This is, basically, his entire argument: People just want to “stay in their cars.” We have zero interest in getting around any other way. According to Fred Barnes, we are perfectly content to drive and drive and drive, as long as we don’t have to put up with all the other people driving. If you believe that, then his cheerleading for highway construction makes a lot of sense.
If being inside our cars is what we’re really all about, by all means lets throw more money down the sinkhole of highway expansion. That will guarantee more quality time inside our cars. Then, a few years later, when we’re in our cars but not enjoying it so much because the new lanes are jammed with traffic again, we’ll repeat the whole expensive process.
But if we’d rather spend more time with our families and loved ones — or, you know, doing actual work instead of commuting — maybe we should try a different way of building our transportation system. According to public opinion research by Transportation for America, 57 percent of Americans would like to spend less time in their cars. Even with our highway-centric system, we’re already voting with our feet: These days, Americans are driving less and opting to walk, bike, and ride transit more than we were at the beginning of the decade.
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