Now that you own GM, help 'em out and buy a car, would you?

A lot of Americans are understandably peeved by the fact that General Motors received a massive taxpayer-funded bailout designed to rescue the company from a long series of poor business decisions.

Some people are upset about it enough to refuse to buy GM's cars as a matter of principle and a show of commitment to the ideals of free market capitalism.

There are some logistical problems with the boycott: So few Americans are buying GM's cars anyway that you have to wonder what percentage of the people who claim to be boycotting the company actually would have bought cars from it anyway.

But the larger problem is this: Why would you refuse to buy from a company that you now have a major financial interest in the success of? For better or worse, the United States government owns 60% of the company and a boycott seems like a pretty classic case of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

If anything, the bailout should make Americans more willing to consider GM cars. It's our best chance of making the bailout something other than a total and unmitigated disaster.