You euros have no clue about America, do you?
Let's start with geography and history.
Europe has been populated since God was a little boy and because of that, there are towns everywhere within 5 to 10 kicks of each other (or let's say a days' walk back in the day - the day? "he must be a King, cuz he's not covered in shit like us") . Each euro town (seems from this American POV) is self-contained - Food, restaurant, bar(s), various repair shops, etc. Not so in your american towns, at least not anymore due to the Walmart Effect. American towns are further apart, probably due to horse transportation and wagon travel being faster and covering more distance in a day compared to walking during the founding and expansion of the US. There are changes with distances between the east coast and west coast as well as huge differences between the "fly-over" states. In Arizona I had to drive 45 miles to the nearest food store, in Tennessee only about 7. The east coast (orig. 13 colonies - think of that) probably closest compare to the euro set up with towns/cities layout.
Bottom line it's not easy to "not use a car for everything" in the US. I'd rather ride my horse to work but there is no parking anywhere so I drive a little 4banger GMC Canyon (want a Ford Fusion- mpg up to 35-36 hwy). Side note: How come they can't build another Geo Metro? Had ac, would do 120MPH (shake you to death hehe), and got 48-50mpg without a damn thing tecchy about it? Better than a freaking Prius without all the baggage? Answer me that.
Moving on.
"never gonna happen as American politics is controlled by the oil business"
Personally I'm still waiting for cheap fuel from the "Blood for Oil" war..... (love the Brits for perfecting the use of understatement).
American politics are a bigger joke here to us than anyone could possibly claim from the outside. You cannot trust them, they have not a clue what it means to live within your means, and there is not ONE of them I would let babysit my kids unsupervised. That tell you something? They exempted themselves from Obamacare..... if it;s good enough for the goose, it's good enough for the gander - tells you something else about Obamacare doesn't it? Fun Fact: When elected, a US politician may have made $70-$100k a year previously as lawyers 99% of the time, but yet when they finally retire or get voted out, they are worth millions? What the FUCK is wrong with that picture?
Sigh.
I am an American, in the older sense of the term. I believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I believe any and every person has the means to provide for themselves within themselves and not be 'entitled' to be provided for by any government. The crap about our immigration and things 'americans won't do' is crap. It is not beneath anyone to dig a ditch (I have and probably will again) for pay, but as long as the gov handicaps people by giving them the means to actually sit in gov housing, watch tv, and get fatter than hell, that won't change. I am not elite, I am a guy with a wife and kids. A week and a half ago I was laid off from a company where I was allegedly CTO (lying bastards! Screwed again with about $10k worth of time unaccounted for- we'll see about that lol). Yet after a week of going WTF? I am just going to fire up my own business again so I'll never be in that position again.
The Story: Yes, good and fine for densely-packed places like that but won't be sensible for the rest of the states. I wouldn't care if the car drove itself, be pretty cool to sleep on the way to an appointment with a client lol. Wouldn't mind a bit.