Pere Navarro and the socialist war on cars: an authoritarian and third-world project

Socialism is an ideology that is radically hostile to prosperity, both because of its results and its political interests.

A freedom that was expanded under Francoism and that socialism now intends to curtail
The Spanish MEPs who supported a measure that will make cars more expensive

Socialism has no place in a prosperous society

The economic results of socialism are easy to see in Venezuela, a country with vast oil wealth that has been plunged into abject poverty after 24 years of socialist rule. As for the political implications, one only needs to look at Spanish socialism to discover the ultimate reason for its aversion to prosperity, beyond the rabid anti-capitalism fueled by its ideological absurdities.

The reality is easy to understand: in a prosperous society, socialism has no place. The Spanish left has been obsessed for many years with the Marxist dogma of class struggle, but its anachronistic discourse has no place in a society with a large middle class, which enjoys the comforts generated by a system that the left hates to a pathological degree: the free market.

A freedom achieved six decades ago that socialism intends to take away from us.

In Spain, the Francoist dictatorship gave rise to a large middle class thanks to its decision to abandon the interventionist policies of its early days and embrace the liberalizing measures of the so-called technocrats of Opus Dei. The 1960s saw a colossal boom in private vehicle ownership in Spain. Many families were able to enjoy a car for holiday trips. It was one of the greatest signs of prosperity and freedom in Spain at that time, since, unlike what happened in the vast majority of communist dictatorships, Spaniards were not only free to move within their country, but also to leave it. The private car played a decisive role in promoting this freedom of movement.

Paradoxically, that freedom that came to Spain under a dictatorship is now under attack by the socialists in a democracy. Pedro Sánchez's government has a genuine obsession with restricting private cars, as I warned here four years ago. An obsession that was initially disguised with environmental excuses but now seeks other pretexts.

Pere Navarro: “You're not going to get to the city center with an electric car, a diesel car, or a gasoline car”

Yesterday, one of the PSOE's top officials openly offered the latest excuse to fuel his unhealthy campaign against private cars. The Socialist Pere Navarro, Director General of Traffic, stated:

"The problem of mobility in cities is a problem of space. And now I see that lately we're constantly going on about emissions, emissions not, this and that. Look, you go to the city center by public transport, and if you're in a hurry you take a taxi, an Uber, or a Cabify. You're not going to get to the city center in an electric car, or a diesel car, or a gasoline car. Let's not get confused."

Here you can see the video of that statement, published by Europa Press (the video is in Spanish; you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):

A drastic reduction of freedoms that would seriously harm many Spaniards

What Pere Navarro is proposing with that statement is a drastic reduction of freedoms that affects a fundamental right that is protected by Article 19 of the Spanish Constitution, whose first paragraph states: "Spaniards have the right to choose their place of residence freely, and to move about freely within the national territory."

If the ban proposed by Pere Navarro were to come into effect, millions of Spaniards would have to get rid of their cars, as they would no longer be able to drive them in their own cities. This would be a seriously detrimental decision for Spanish society, especially for the many people who need a car to get to work. All this while the socialist elite travels in official cars and everywhere on state aircraft, even using them for very short journeys that could be made by train or car.

Socialism wants to repeat in Spain what it already did in Cuba and Venezuela

Of course, what socialism intends to reproduce in Spain is what it already did in countries like Cuba and Venezuela: a people mired in poverty (this is the left's idea of ​​equality: making us all equally poor), while the socialist elite enjoys all kinds of luxuries at the expense of everyone else. Thus, we arrive at what should be obvious to many by now, after the unfortunate experience of countries like those mentioned: socialism is a toxic ideology whose ultimate goal is to create an authoritarian and underdeveloped society, which is the only type of society in which socialists can have any success in selling their outdated prescriptions.

What despots like Pedro Sánchez or Pere Navarro are doing is degrading our country so that it resembles less and less of a democracy and more and more that authoritarian, third-world goal that socialism has set as its ultimate destination. It's also worth noting that this same left wing that tells us we should use public transport is the one making rail transport a disaster in Spain, with ever-increasing delays and frequent service disruptions that leave passengers stranded anywhere. These are the ones who want to leave us without cars.

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Photo: Dirección General de Tráfico.