Tax Gas Now

It's the true conservative position on energy:

With oil prices having fallen to $55 a barrel, now is the time. The effect of a gas-tax hike will be seen in less than two years, and you don't even have to go back to the 1970s and the subsequent radical reduction in consumption to see how. Just look at last summer. Gas prices spike to $3 with the premium going to Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez and assorted sheiks, rather than the U.S. treasury and, presto, SUV sales plunge, the Prius is cool and car ads once again begin featuring miles per gallon ratings.

No regulator, no fuel-efficiency standards, no presidential exhortations, no grand experiments with switchgrass. Raise the price and people change their habits. It's the essence of capitalism.

Amen. But it requires telling Americans they need to sacrifice for national security. And no one wants to do that, do they?