A lot of important things were happening in 2008. Banks were failing, jobs were being lost, and our economy was about to be pushed off a cliff. The problems our country faced in 2008 were grave, and have had lasting consequences even to this day. Luckily, while voters, politicians, and pundits wasted their time trying to select new leaders of government to tackle these problems, then-Congressman Mark Udall saw something different. In the midst of economy downturn, Congressman Udall and his taxpayer-funded congressional staff felt the best use of their time and resources was to write a bill to get Americans to stand up and actually do something! Literally, something—anything actually that made a person sweat. And they wanted the government to design a program and devote resources promoting it.

Let’s be honest: by now, we were supposed to have flying cars. Do you see any flying cars? No, nor do I. What’s worse is that people seem to think that they’re the top priority in automotive technology. The U.S. Department of Transportation wants cars to be able to “talk” to each other by 2017. It’s Big Brother’s Dream come true.