During the 70’s and early 80’s they tried hard to get the U.S. to switch to the metric system. But American’s basically rejected it. Why didn’t congress just pass a law saying “After such & such a date, all units of measurement must be metric, no exceptions”.
because we americians have the mind set of “who the hell are you to tell me how I can and can’t measure things?” and rightfully so i think–i don’t care how much eaiser or more conveniant the metric system is (and it IS a hell of a lot eaiser) I don’t want the government telling me I can’t use my one gallon milk jug…
eggo
–how’s that for a run-on sentence?
That’s one of the problems of democracy: when the people want to be stubborn and pigheaded you can’t force them to be sensible. A candidate whose platform was to “shove the metric system down your throats” would not get many votes.
On the other hand, if I were dictator you can bet you’d all be very metric by now. 
Well, I thought that Jimmy Carter had made a commitment that we would switch by some future date, but that when he left office Reagan said to hell with that. I can remember watching some special TV shows on the metric system and getting instruction in it… and then it was dropped and it just became something you’d run across in the occasional word problem in math class.
I guess we’d have much cooler Mars pictures if we’d gone through with it…
Actually, the federal government is still trying to enforce the metric conversion by the time-honored axiom called The Golden Rule, wherein he who has the gold, makes the rules. In some cases, if you want federal funds, you have to convert your stuff to metric. I know this is true of state highway departments, who are required to convert their internal maps and calculations and stuff to metric to get federal dollars. Uncle Sam has a long, gradual conversion in mind, so don’t hold your breath.
My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead, and that’s the way I like it!
Because it would take billions or trillions of dollars to change the existing infrastructure. How would you maintain everything that has already been built if there were no more properly sized tools or connections?
That’s some SUV you drive. Even the biggest, heaviest army tank gets better mileage than that.
It seems to be an accepted fact that “they” tried to get us to go metric, but then “they” stopped.
But I’m still unclear on who “they” are exactly, and what it would mean to “force us to go metric.” What sorts of punishment would be dished out to people who still used the English system?
I don’t suppose that the current system of measurements is in place because the US government - or anyone else - mandated it; it’s simply what people have chosen to use. Today, people choose to use metric for some purposes and English for others. What place does the government have in forcing this issue one way or the other?
Er, would that be “gets better roddage than that?”
Anyone remember when they started to put roadside milage signs (Buttville 12 miles) up in kilometers and people shot them down?
That was great.
Unclear who “they” really are…just look to you neigbors to the North. Not Minnesota thya don’t care about the Metric system. When ever you hear “they” isn’t it obvious that “they” refers to Canadians of course!
Canadains embraced the metric system in the mid-70’s. The powers that be in the USA said “well if Canada is going metric we better too”.
I firmly believe that the metric system has been used to lull the populous into a false sense os security. for example it cost us only $0.65 per Liter of gas while Americans are paying over $1.20…ha ha ha …oh wait theres approx. 4 litres in a gallon…damn!