Proponents of "
vehicular cycling" believe bikes should act as cars: occupy full lanes, stop at red lights, use a hand signal at least 100 feet ahead of a turn. That's the best way to make cars—and policymakers—aware of bicycles
and to respect them as equals on the road.
So the USA was founded in part on this idea that "all [people] are created equal." But machines like cars and bicycles aren't endowed by their creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The idea that a person choosing between a bike and a car to get from one place to another isn't choosing among equals isn't Nazism. We don't have to pretend vehicle choices are "equal" in a civil rights sense. Cars don't respect bikes as equals on the road. They use their powerful engines to pass us ... and to go 50 mph up long, steep hills.
Cars and bikes both have unique strengths, weaknesses, and liabilities. Pretending otherwise is just plain goofy, and hard to take seriously.