There are a number of major factors driving our Foreign Policy, Islamic terrorism, WMDs (Iran & North Korea especially), and globalism.
But there is one other factor equally as large - oil. Oil provides Islamic terrorism with massive funding. Oil makes Iran untouchable. Oil allows corrupt dictatorships to continue. The demand for oil and the money paid for oil cause immense harm to our foreign policy.
This country uses 25% of the world's oil. And this country also domestically produces 40% of it's own oil. If we could drop the usage here by 20%, we would cut our oil imports by 1/3 and we would reduce world usage by 5%. And that drop would lead to an tremendous drop in the price oil would sell for. It's the scarcity that drives the price up.
We don't do this with CAFE standards on cars. We don't do this with alternative energy programs.
Instead we use the free market. This country always does best when it harnesses capitalism for a job. And the way to do this is very simple.
All petroleum has additional taxes added to it, at $1.00/gallon/year over the next 5 years so that we end up at $5.00/gallon. And while the tax is set so it equals $5.00/gallon at the pump, it is placed on the oil coming out of the ground. Any use of oil - for plastics, for lubricants, for jet fuel - all is taxed.
And any energy source that does not come from oil - ethanol, coal, oil shale, anything else, is not hit with the tax. This way the financial incentive is to find alternatives to oil be it energy efficiency and/or alternative sources. The bottom line is that the market will find the best way to reduce oil usage.
And the poor will get hammered by this tax. So there is a tax credit equal to the taxes on 30 gallons/month that goes to each taxpayer. Anyone driving an average amount breaks even. Those who drive less, get hybrid cars, or use mass transit end up with money in their pocket. While those who drive a hum-vee will be paying and paying - but they have that option if it is worth it to them.
And this tax would really be one of the most virtuous of taxes. Because those paying it would be reimbursing the government for the costs of their oil usage - little things like the war in Iraq. (The war in Iraq may not be because of oil - but it is definitely due to oil.)
