One of the persistent canards of the free-us-from-foreign-oil crowd is that if we can make our cars more economical - get more miles to the gallon - we can win release from Middle Eastern oil dependency.
As Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe Columnist, explains: "Americans use energy far more efficiently than in decades past, and for that reason they consume more energy."
The blunt fact is that if you get more miles to the gallon, you're likely to drive more miles. Fuel economy translates to over-indulgence.
“Efficiency fails to curb demand because it lets more people do more, and do it faster,'' write Peter Huber and Mark Mills in 'The Bottomless Well,' their intriguing 2005 book on energy policy, “and more/more/faster invariably swamps all the efficiency gains.''
Jacoby adds: "More energy-efficient generally means more affordable - and the more affordable something becomes, the more of it society uses."
So, if you really want to be free of foreign oil dependence, bring back the gas guzzlers. Yeah, that's not too likely is it?
Here's an idea that surpasses them all: develop the on- and off-shore oil, natural gas, oil shale, oil sand and other resources on our own continent. There's enough there to more than meet demand, to keep prices down and to feed your fuel-efficient vehicles for all those extra miles you'll log with scenic drives in the country.
Nah, why do that when the government can restrict supply, drive up prices and force you to wedge yourself into a tiny, unsafe, 57-mile-per gallon glorified roller skate?