At the upcoming Washington Auto Show, Automotive News will be presenting its Lifetime Achievement Award to none other than Edsel B. Ford II, great-grandson of the spectacularly over-estimated Henry Ford, who, contrary to ruling mythology, invented neither the automobile nor the assembly line and who did not want to make sure workers’ incomes kept up with capitalists’.

At a time when the car corporations are hyping their alleged “innovation” harder than ever, this award provides yet another angle from which to comprehend the profound decrepitude of this, corporate capitalism’s beating heart.

What has Edsel B. Ford II done to merit anybody’s lifetime achievement award, other than squarely occupy his inherited overclass perquisites? Nothing whatsoever, rather obviously.

Interestingly, it seems that our friend Ralph Nader accepted the 2010 version of this award. Would any hen accept a Henhouse Management Award from the fox journalists cheering vulpine henhouse raids?

In any event, Ralph apparently showed up and repeated his fealty to the misleading (and apparently Nader-ego-boosting) deaths-per-mile statistic.