Were a government to demand the sacrifice of 46,700 citizens’ each year, there is no doubt that an outraged public would revolt. If an organized religion were to plan the immolation of 523,335 of the faithful in a decade,’ there is no question that it would be toppled. Were there a Manson-type cult that murdered 790 people to celebrate Memorial Day, 770 to usher in the Fourth of July, 915 to commemorate Labor Day, 960 at Thanksgiving, and solemnized Christmas with 355 more deaths,3 surely The New York Times would wax eloquent about the carnage, calling for the greatest manhunt this nation has ever seen. If Dr. Spock were to learn of a disease that killed 2,077 children under the age of five each year, or were New York City’s Andrew Stein to uncover a nursing home that allowed 7,346 elderly people to die annually, there would be no stone unturned in their efforts to combat the enemy. To compound the horror, were private enterprise responsible for this butchery, a cataclysmic reaction would ensue: investigation panels would be appointed, the justice department would seek out antitrust violations, company executives would be jailed, and an outraged hue and cry for nationalization would follow.
The reality, however, is that the government is responsible for such slaughter-the toll taken on our nation’s roadways.
