The bankruptcy/restructuring debate over the future of automakers has become similar to a bizarro theater performance where two cut-rate physicians argue over the cure for a late-stage cancer patient. One waves a turn-of-the-century doctor’s bag and proposes an enhanced exercise regime. The second, a fan of leeches and bleeding, peers through a wireframe monocle and prescribes a change in diet. In the final act the patient croaks and the curtain falls.

            The reality in Detroit is that car production on the scale we are accustomed to is over, for two main reasons. First, the world is suffering from a glut of auto production.  When (or if) demand returns GM and Chrysler will be facing nimble, healthy car companies that are hungry and prepared to absorb the renewed demand. And, for customers still interested in an American car, large numbers of newer model, barely driven vehicles will beckon the now frugal shopper from used car lots spread across the nation. Secondly, Detroit has a management culture committed to making yesterday’s cars (with a few exceptions like the Ford Escape Hybrid). One look at the Volt, Chevrolet’s knight in shining armor, suggests that it was designed with the Brawny Man in mind.

            But this situation also presents an enormous opportunity. What Detroit does have is an immense manufacturing capacity and thousands of highly trained, hard working employees. With some direction from Washington the folks in Detroit could build things we actually want and need.

            Detroit could become the engine for a long-needed revolution in American transportation. Few would debate the fact that millions of people waste countless hours stuck on freeways in maddening rush hour traffic. Plenty of Americans facing a tough economic climate would love to ditch the cost of filling the tank to drive all the way to work and back each day. So here is where those mammoth plants and hordes of workers facing layoffs come in. The government buys the ravaged stock of GE and Chrysler and nationalizes the companies. It then assigns the plants to one of two tasks – building railroad ties (with American steel) or building trains (in partnership with the German company that makes Europe and China’s fine trains). Then it commandeers the left lane of every interstate connecting major cities. Given the cost and time needed to negotiate rights of way on private land or prepare raw public land alongside freeways, the interstate system offers a gift ready-made for the future. The ownership is already established and a leveled, paved surface is ready for use. During construction car congestion on remaining lanes would surely increase, just as it always eventually does on new lanes after they are built, so rail construction would help shift America’s driving habits. Getting to work, a person would drive to a Park And Ride, hop on a train, get off at his stop, and use a fleet of (free) busses or taxis to arrive at the office.

            The employment stimulus would be immense. One can picture the buzz of activity: threatened auto workers building tracks and trains; laid off construction workers laying down track; downsized engineers designing passenger platforms and guardrails placed between cars and trains; unemployed truckers shuttling people to and from Park and Rides. My favorite? Cast aside service workers manning rail cabins and serving fruity drinks with little umbrellas to more relaxed and efficient office workers. And on and on.

            Americans don’t like to admit defeat (Vietnam was a tie after all) but this is not the time for stubborn pride. We can’t afford to be Like A Rock. The age of American automotive glory peaked with fast cars at drive-ins, started wobbling with Iococca’s emasculating mini-vans, and died with the Hummer. Ford can still build great trucks and, with a little help, could design a truly efficient car for the future. But on the whole, mass production of American cars is dead. Its time for something new. Its time for Detroit to be, like our exiting “president”, born again.