Buying American…

I buy American when I can which isn’t to say that I avoid buying non-American.  I just buy American.  If i see or know that a product is made here and there’s an equal product made somewhere else I’ll try to buy American.   Partly because it’s patriotic but mostly because it’s good stuff.  I don’t really care what your left-wing anti-American superhero set have to say. 

Let’s take a quick inventory of the big stuff…

* House, built here.
* Truck: Ford Made Here
* Car: Ford Made here.
* Boat: Tracker Made here.
* Camper: Jay Flight, Made here.
* Motorcycle1: Honda
* Motorcycle2: Suzuki

AH HA!!!!  You might say, You bought them overseas motorcycles you fibbin redneck you!! But, well no, I didn’t. 

You see, the Honda is made in Marysville Ohio.  At a plant that employs over 300 Americans.   I’ll tell you another little secret too.  If before you buy you ask people that ride different brands what problems they have had with the bike they’ll tell you.  I share a message board with hundreds of other folks that ride the same bike that I do.  Want to know what they’ll tell you if you ask about common problems with the bike?  Nothing. It doesn’t break down.  It doesn’t have problems.  They’ll tell you it’s a little hard to start on very  very cold mornings but other than that… it’s a solid bike. 300 people and I can only think of one that ever had his bike in the shop for a failure.  I prefer to believe that it’s because it was made in Ohio and not because it’s a Honda but it’s a tough argument.  In the end, it IS made in America and while some of the money might go overseas a lot of it goes right back into the Marysville economy…. so bite me.

The Suzuki, ok, you’ve got me there.  She wanted it, she got it.  I’m a failure, I’ll admit that.

But, you won’t catch me with my nose in the air.  You won’t hear me self righteously saying, “I bought the best product” or “I bought the most fuel efficient car… I don’t care if it was foreign.” and you won’t catch me complaining about the fat cat auto bailout….

I’m really getting sick of this victim mentality… “those fat cats ran those companies into the ground and we had to bail them out!”  or “the unions are causing all of the problems!”… good arguments and yet, when was the last time YOU bought and American car.  Not because it was better and not because it had better fuel economy but just because it was American made.  When?

You can argue, of course that it was cheaper.  I’d argue that if you bought last years model on some cars that it’d be the other way around.  Hell, I’d even argue that equivalent cars would be within a $1000 of each other.  Be honest.  You bought the latest Hyundai not because you couldn’t afford a contour but because that’s what you wanted.  You bought it to impress your friends with how “Globally minded” you are.  I’m ok with that, in fact I encourage it.  If that’s what you WANT and you can afford it then go for it but get over the high minded crap and admit that America going broke is your fault. 

Here’s a few facts:

My truck is paid for.  I bought it new and have had it for about six years now.  I follow the manufacturers recommendations and do all of the recommended maintenance at the recommended intervals… including oil changes.   I’ve towed a 30 foot camper almost 10,000 miles.  I’ve towed my boat at least that far with it.   I’ve driven it in downtown Chicago and in backwoods Mississippi about as far off road as you can get.  I’ve had it axle deep in red Louisiana mud and fender deep in Illinois snow.   I’ve driven it through ocean salt and road salt and I’ve hauled enough crap (including more salt) in the back to fill several tractor trailers.  I’ve moved people with it and loaned it out to people that needed to move or needed to tow something.  The truck has almost 80,000 miles on it and in all of that time it has failed to start exactly once…. when I left a CB radio that I direct wired to the battery on and ran the battery down.  I Jumped the truck off that once.   The truck has been in the shop exactly once…. when the radio got jacked and I had the door lock replaced.    A month ago I was trying help a friend pull up a concrete post and pulled a half inch chain in half.  The tires didn’t spin, the truck didn’t die.   It just drove to the end of the chain and when the post didn’t come out of the ground it pulled the chain in half.  Oops. About five months ago I hooked it to 70 feet of deck and jerked the deck off of my house… See:

You’re insane if you’re going to try to tell me that you have a vehicle that can take more punishment than that and still start every time.   My truck starts in under a second and it doesn’t cause trouble. 

Before this truck I had a Chevy Silverado.  It ran perfectly until the day I traded it in on this truck and I only did that because I bought a new camper and needed something bigger to pull it with.

Before that, I had a Chevy Blazer and I only traded that in on the Silverado because I bought a new boat.

All during that time we had a Ford contour that ran perfectly.  We loaned that one out to my sister in law for a long long time.  It had a silly amount of miles on it when we sold it after almost 10 years.  After that, we bought a Ford Edge and it rocks too.

They never stop.  They never blink. They never break.  If you tell me that American vehicles aren’t dependable you’re going to have to prove it to me because honestly, I haven’t seen it.  I also haven’t seen that they’re “OMG MORE EXPENSIVE” than foreign cars.  When I bought the first few vehicles it was because they were cheap.  They were last years models or just on some sale.  They were all brand new with less than 50 miles on them and they were cheaper… by far … than foreign equivalents.

So, tell me again why American car companies are going broke?  Tell me again why YOU had to bail them out?  Tell me again and again and again how it’s all their fault and then tell me how much you paid for that Hyundai.