Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Massachusetts lawmakers are barreling ahead with a bill that would force the state to slash the total miles residents drive, all under the banner of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The proposal, Senate Bill S.2246, doesn’t slap a hard cap on your daily commute… yet – but it orders the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) to set binding goals for reducing statewide vehicle miles traveled (VMT). It also creates a new government council tasked with pushing people onto public transit whether they like it or not.

A local Boston report highlights the move:

“The bill proposed in Massachusetts would limit how far you can drive in your own car. So lawmakers say it would help reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions. Now, while no specific mileage limit was listed, the bill would require MassDOT to set goals to reduce the number of statewide driving miles. It would also establish a new council to find ways to make public transportation more accessible for residents. Now, critics say A cap on personal vehicle miles would directly impact those in rural parts of the state.”

The committee gave it a favorable 4-1 vote and shipped it to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, keeping the radical plan alive on Beacon Hill.

This isn’t some fringe idea cooked up in isolation. It’s part of a broader push to ration mobility under the twin excuses of “climate” and “equity.” Similar thinking powers the 15-minute city concept – the urban planning fad sold as “convenience” but designed to make driving anywhere outside your little neighborhood a bureaucratic nightmare.

Need to visit family across town or haul supplies for a business? Too bad. The goal is fewer cars, fewer miles, and more dependence on government-run transit that’s already unreliable and crime-ridden in blue cities.

Europe is already testing the waters with energy rationing talk amid ongoing crises. Officials have floated work-from-home mandates, driving restrictions, and even limits on flying or heating homes to meet net-zero targets.

Massachusetts Democrats are importing that same top-down control in America, where rural families, tradespeople, and anyone not lucky enough to live in a walkable Boston enclave get punished hardest.

Supporters dress it up as “aligning transportation plans with emissions goals.” The bill’s own text demands the state develop a “reasonable pathway” to cut VMT through everything from denser development to parking restrictions and tech-enabled tracking. Critics rightly call it what it is: a precursor to surveillance, fees, or outright limits on how far your personal vehicle can go.

This is the same crowd that cheered COVID lockdowns while elites jetted off to climate conferences. Now they’re eyeing your car as the next target. Rural Massachusetts residents already face long drives for work, groceries, and medical care. Forcing them onto broken public buses or trains isn’t “progress” – it’s punishment for not living the approved urban lifestyle.

This creeping surveillance state is an affront to freedom, including the personal freedom to drive where you want, when you want, in the vehicle you choose.

Massachusetts Democrats just proved again why voters are fleeing blue strongholds for red states that still respect individual liberty. If this passes, expect more families packing up and heading to places where the government doesn’t treat your car like public property. The fight against these soft tyrannies is on.

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