Knowing how to drive is a good skill to have. That being said, personal automobility has only ever equaled freedom in an environment where big government funnels massive subsidies into car-oriented infrastructure, forces private property owners to provide a minimum number of parking stalls, and enforces strict low-density single-use zoning rules.

The incentive provided by government to own a car has been powerful enough to shape an entire culture. It's so perverse that even the most freedom-minded among us think having multiple viable choices for how to move around our cities constitutes a loss of freedom.