Millions of Americans have happily bought and driven General Motors cars over the years. Fortunately, the same has been true of Ford and Chrysler products.

But unfortunately, our American car companies have fallen on evil days, to differing degrees, and for some similar and dissimilar reasons.

Japanese and European car companies have made great inroads in the American automobile market. Many of them have established fine American factories and have hired thousands of American workers. They are welcome.

That's all in the American spirit of free enterprise competition. We want all American establishments -- foreign and domestic -- to thrive, including -- and especially -- the one that Volkswagen has decided to build in Chattanooga, which will hire a couple of thousand workers in our area.

But as much as we want U.S. companies and U.S. employees to succeed, it is surely a bad taste in many Americans' mouths to have "government" intervene in private businesses for a "bailout" of U.S. companies at American taxpayers' expense.

There was a highly controversial statement some years ago by a top GM executive: "What's good for General Motors is good for America -- and vice versa."

Some people tried to suggest he improperly mentioned GM "first," ahead of the nation's best interests. But whether it was said that way, or whether we say, "What's good for America is good for General Motors -- and vice versa," it's true.

America's companies and American employees -- and our whole economy -- tend to rise and fall together. We naturally like good results for all.

Well, what happened to the big American car companies? Lots of things, too many to recount here. They still make good cars, as do their competitors. There have been bad management decisions and bad labor union practices, and all have taken their toll. Everyone should be sorry.

But it still is not the proper business of government to bail out or finance or intervene in any private business. Again we ask, somewhat tiresomely, where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that government should do anything that the Constitution does not specify government should do. In fact, the Constitution excludes everything not specified -- and running private businesses is not mentioned as a constitutional government function.

We want all of our American car companies, and their employees, and other legitimate and moral and beneficial American companies and their employees -- and our foreign-based companies who operate here, and their American workers -- to be successful.

But we still believe in the American free enterprise system, which seeks to reward entrepreneurs according to the quality and value of their products and services in a free market. We want them all to earn a profit because American consumers believe it is in our people's interest to patronize them. And we want them all to pay fair and reasonable taxes to help finance our constitutional government.

There are "ups and down" in economic cycles in all sorts of enterprises, and in all kinds of products. We desire the best for all on the basis of the quality and value and service to the people who choose freely to patronize them.

America was built economically on free enterprise and free choice, on equality before the law. Let's continue to value those basic principles, with government limited to government according to the Constitution, excluding any degree of socialistic enterprise.