It's tempting to call the shameful taxpayer subsidy for electric cars - vehicles that are unaffordable for all but a small number of wealthy Americans - this nation's costly little secret.

The private sector is entirely capable of developing EVs and other new automotive technologies without the need for subsidies.

Government rebates on domesticcars would do less harm than a bailout of the Big Three automakers.

The hysteria is unnervingly consistent: Toyota put profit before safety. But did it?

If there is a way to reconcile mass car ownership with anti-climate change policies, we have not found it yet.

In the latest AEI Political Report, the AEI Politics team looks at at the new phase of 2012 campaign from a variety of angles. 

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Let’s say that you were a politican with a GM Volt and turned it into an icon of your administration. And let’s also observe that despite giving people (most of whom are wealthy) a whopping $7,500 subsidy to buy a $40,000 car, your union- and government-controlled car company couldn’t sell enough of them to justify keeping the assembly line open. What would you do?

Ready for the battle in November? You probably think I’m talking about the election. No, I’m talking about the battle around your Thanksgiving table. The dinner conversation will turn to politics and the economy, and it will be your job to stick up for capitalism and free markets.