A New Force in Politics Gets Ready to Rev Its Engine

September 22, 2020

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — Johnny Barksdale could not have been more plain about the political ambitions of the National Drivers Association during the keynote speech at the group’s inaugural convention. Holding a steering wheel over his head — it happened to belong to a vintage 1966 Ford Mustang — he proclaimed with a smile “From my cold, dead hands” to the cheer of thousands of supporters.

What started as a loosely affiliated group of mostly car enthusiasts a little over two years ago has emerged as national political force with formidable clout. The NDA claims over a million members and affiliations with groups ranging from labor unions to neighborhood associations.

Ahead of the convention, the NDA released a detailed twenty nine page report outlining their mission and goals, but the overarching theme was repeated throughout the many speeches: the automobile as a means of individual freedom.

“This country was founded on our right to pursue life and liberty and there’s no better way to do so than on the open road,” Barksdale continued in his keynote address. That notion of freedom, of driving as an inalienable right, permeated the convention.

The attendees on the floor proved to be cross section of America. Moms from suburban homeowner groups laughed alongside tattooed Hell’s Angels. Taxi and truck drivers swapped stories and strategies for better organizing themselves. Graying hobbyists clad in Hawaiian shirts and embroidered hats proclaiming their loyalties (Corvette, Mustang, Camaro) mixed with teenagers barely old enough to drive, worried about losing a world they’d never known.

“This is a stand,” declared a soft-spoken but imposing leather-clad motorcyclist who’d only give his first name, Dale. “This is a stand for freedom, for what it means to be an American.”

A fellow biker, of the more suburban dad variety, Stan McDaniels, joined in. “We’re here to tell bureaucrats, whether it’s in Washington, here in Colorado, or back in my home state of Tennessee, that this is what freedom looks like. To keep their big government out of my garage! I mean, look at London for God’s sake. In two years no one will be allowed to drive their own car within the city limits, duh-roid drivers in black cabs only. That’s how fascism starts!”

Tina Farr, a mechanic, was chatting with a cab driver nearby. She seemed less concerned with abstract notions of freedom and more interested in the day-to-day.

“I barely recognize the cars being sold today, even the ones that still require full human operation. They’re all computer controlled, with electric engines sealed in an impenetrable black box. Even when they need maintenance, it’s more like programming a computer…” she trailed off.

“I know they’ve got this CARR program to help,” she added, mentioning President Clinton’s 10-year, $5 billion education and retraining initiative. “But look what happened to the taxi guys. Didn’t Uber promise to train them up, teach their drivers to code or something?”

Michael Daniels, a truck driver from Boise wearing a t-shirt that read “When truck drivers are outlawed only outlaws will drive trucks” was even more direct. “I’m here to find a job. They told me there’d be a job fair, but I guess that doesn’t start until tomorrow. All this talk of the open road is nice, I’ve seen plenty of it. When the open road wants to pay me to drive it, I’ll talk.”

If the convention-goers were a mixed group, the crowd that showed up in response to the convention was even more diverse.

A self-described anarchist and political theater performance artist from Portland who would only give the name Mickey Mouse held up a sign that read “How many children have your cars killed today?” on one side and “This cyclist doesn’t need a war” on the other. He was joined by a bespectacled project manager from GM’s autonomous vehicles group, trying to lead a a chant.

“Honestly, I’m pretty surprised that I’m out here arm in arm with fffuuu… Uber, man,” Mr. Mouse said. “I mean, I was there with Occupy in 2011, I hate how corporate so much of this is. But the enemy of my enemy, you know?”

Environmentalists, urbanists, child welfare advocates made uneasy alliances with some of the same multinational, multibillion dollar corporations they were used to working against. Such is the political landscape, transformed in short order by the arrival of self-driving cars and trucks.

Nowhere is the divide more clear this year than in the state of California, home to much of the innovation that has propelled autonomous vehicles but also a state known for legislation by direct democracy. Perhaps the greatest threat to an autonomous future, and one of the NDA’s potential biggest victories, comes in the form of Proposition 66. If passed, Prop 66 would prohibit any local government in the state from limiting where non-autonomous vehicles could drive. Last year, Los Angeles and San Francisco both proposed “AV-only zones” around their respective city centers, similar to zones being set up from Vancouver to Paris to Beijing, but those plans have been put on hold until after the election.

It’s not just in big cities that are being reshaped by AV, either. Palo Alto, the relatively quiet suburb at the epicenter of Silicon Valley, is grappling once again with its famously prickly and NIMBY residents. A proposed study that would look at limiting street parking in favor of AV idling zones was literally shouted down in a series of town hall meetings from residents worried about the “character” of their city. Engineers at nearby Google and Apple have reportedly faced numerous threats from their own neighbors.

As surreal as this movement may be at the ballot box, it doesn’t quite compare to the case that the NDA has managed to bring before the Supreme Court. Barksdale v. Florida is seeking nothing less than the redefinition of all human operated automobiles sold in the United States as lethal weapons, and thus guaranteed protection under the Second Amendment. The case began in late 2017 when Bev Barksdale, daughter of the NDA president, struck and killed a cyclist that she said was threatening her. Barksdale’s defense has tried to use Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground Law to claim she was within her right to use her vehicle as a weapon if she felt her life was in danger.

“It’s certainly a … novel interpretation of the law,” said Chief Justice Obama during an interview with Snapchat/NBC. “Without getting into the specifics of this case, it absolutely has the power to transform some fairly basic assumptions about our system of government.”

Back at the convention, Johnny Barksdale likewise refused to talk about the upcoming case, but reiterated the the NDA’s mission of protecting the freedom of all Americans, even if that means tens of thousands would continue to die every year in automobile accidents.

“Look, I realize the founding fathers never drove a Corvette Stingray or hell even a Hyundai. But I’m certain they’d agree that Americans have a right to drive all over this great land of ours instead of just being chauffeured around by some bot at 24 miles an hour. Are we perfect drivers? No. Do accidents happen? Of course. That’s freedom, though. And freedom is sometimes messy.”