Hello, my name is Laura, and I drive a Ford.

It’s served me pretty well over the past five years or so, breaking down roadside only four or five times. The alignment is permanently off-kilter, defying repeated trips to the mechanic. The alternator died, but I didn’t have to worry because the car was still under warranty — less than a year old in fact. That’s normal right?

But alas, my trusty Ford has gotten me from point A to point B in one piece, at least up to this point. It’s like the comfortable, trusty boyfriend you know won’t care if you spill a little makeup on his dashboard. He gets decent mileage but never really surprises you. Yet recently I have found myself with eyes astray. The flashy stud from afar with the tiny carbon footprint has stolen my heart. That’s right, I have a crush on a Honda.

The era of the Expedition, the Suburban and the Hummer is over. Americans are tired of seeing paychecks leak out of their exhaust pipes, even with gas prices below $2 per gallon as of late. Even more are tired of feeling personally responsible for the extinction of the polar bear every time they take a trip to the grocery store. If the slow disappearance of these mammoths from America’s highways isn’t enough to convince you of such, the $25 billion bailout The Big Three are asking for should do the trick.

The American auto industry has gotten itself, for lack of a better phrase, in quite a pickle. In response to staggeringly high gas prices during summer 2008, we are only now seeing advertisements for better gas mileage and new hybrids hitting the showrooms. Guys, you caught on a little too late.

Despite years of consumer demand for more economically and environmentally sound cars, the Big 3 have all but failed to make crucial adjustments in accordance with the changing needs of the economy, the industry, and most importantly, the consumer. They have ignored the mounting numbers of tiny, fuel-efficient foreign models zipping down the highways. Worse yet, they continued to create scarier, clunkier monsters even in the face of nearly $5 per gallon fuel prices.

And according to President-elect Barack Obama, they’re not going to squeak by. He spoke about the bailout request Monday, saying, “Taxpayers can’t be expected to pony up more money for an auto industry resistant to change, and I was surprised that they did not have a better thought-out proposal.”

Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of American workers will be affected by the internal combustion of an industry that’s been essential to our economy for over a century. The closing of plants in small towns and cities would mean the ruin of local economies, and the already dire state of the unemployment rate would most likely take another hit. At the same time, we must consider that foreign automakers employ nearly as many American workers as the Big Three. Assisting an ailing and unviable industry to sputter and swerve for another five or 10 years (at best) could only hurt the American workers employed by the much more fiscally responsible foreign automobile companies.

While I do not support this bailout and feel that the auto industry has had its chance, I cannot foresee our next president or the American public letting that happen.

President-elect Obama seems to be leaning toward giving some help to the Big Three but is at least leaning in the right direction. He continued on Monday, “What we should expect is that any additional money that we put into the auto industry is designed to assure a long-term, sustainable auto industry and not just kicking the can down the road.”

If we allow any bailout without strict guidelines and high expectations for a change toward sustainability, Congress will not only burden itself with an additional $25 billion to scrape together, but we will condone an attitude that rewards bad business practices, a blatant disregard for changing market conditions and refusal to adapt to and plan for the future of the car-buying public.

American automakers need to toss the private jets, forget the extra-large SUVs and sit down with the brains behind Honda, Toyota and Nissan to concoct a plan that will cut costs and produce high quality, efficient and forward-thinking cars that will propel, not destroy, what is left of the industry.

And if Congress seriously considers giving the industry a boost and saving these jobs, Ford, GM and Chrysler need to go above and beyond to show they’re equally serious.

A $25 billion bailout, while perhaps the easiest solution for the Big Three to come up with, is not the answer for long-term change. While it would surely give the economy a temporary boost, it would be sending the wrong message and opening the door for bailout requests from every other industry that doesn’t have its act together. Ford, Chrysler and GM have proven that, at least up to now, they don’t have their act together. Instead of looking to taxpayers for pity handouts, they need to take a good, hard look at themselves and decide if they’re ready to make a change for the long haul. If this is not the case, they must face the unfortunate consequences.

Laura Brennan ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in communicative disorders.