[Mb-civic] Mb-civic Digest, Who's Afraid of a Gas Tax?

[EAN at sbcglobal.net]

Friedman says some VERY good stuff for a 
change....except that utter bunk about lumping 
Venezuela and Chavez--where democracy is flourishing 
and where oil money is used to help the poor--in with 
Saudi Arabia!  What a dolt!
--Mha Atma

The New York Times
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March 1, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Who's Afraid of a Gas Tax?
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

My gut told me this was the case, but it's great to 
see it confirmed by the
latest New York Times/CBS News poll: Americans not 
only know that our oil
addiction is really bad for us, but they would be 
willing to accept a
gasoline tax if some leader would just frame the 
stakes for the country the
right way.

I am sure one reason President Bush suddenly chose to 
build his State of the
Union address around ending our oil addiction and 
moving toward a
renewable-energy future was because his private 
polling told him the same
thing. But Mr. Bush simply occupied this ground 
rhetorically ? before
Democrats could get there ? without actually offering 
a real solution.

The only real solution is raising our gasoline tax, 
which is a paltry 18.4
cents a gallon and has not been increased since 1993. 
Only if the total
price of gasoline is brought into the $3.50-to-$4-per-
gallon range ? and
kept there ? will large numbers of Americans demand 
plug-in hybrid cars that
run on biofuels like ethanol. When large numbers of 
Americans do that, U.S.
automakers will move quickly down the innovation 
curve.

"Impossible," campaign consultants say. "A gasoline 
tax is political
suicide." No, it all depends on how you frame it.

The poll reported yesterday found that 60 percent of 
those polled, including
one-third of Republicans, disapproved of how Mr. Bush 
is handling our energy
crisis. Only 27 percent approved. Most want real 
action ? now. In the poll,
87 percent said Washington should require car 
manufacturers to produce more
efficient cars.

Of course, when asked simply whether they'd favor a 
gasoline tax, 85 percent
said no and only 12 percent said yes. But when the 
gas tax was framed as
part of a national strategy to achieve energy 
security and climate security,
pollsters got a very different answer. When the tax 
was presented as
reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil, 55 percent 
favored it and 37
percent said no. And when asked about a gas tax that 
would help reduce
global warming, even more respondents supported it ? 
with 59 percent in
favor and 34 percent opposed.

And that is without a single Democrat or Republican 
leading on this issue!
Imagine if someone actually led?

Many Americans now understand: the Energy Question is 
the big strategic
issue of our time, overtaking 9/11 and the war on 
terrorism. If a leader
from either party would correctly frame the issue ? 
that a gas tax is the
single most important geostrategic move we could make 
today ? a solid
majority would support it.

Taking on this issue is the only hope the Bush team 
has for producing a
legacy out of its remaining years. And it is the 
Democrats' only hope for
taking on the Republicans with a big idea ? rather 
than relying on G.O.P.
scandals to win.

Sadly, both sides fear the other will smear them if 
they run on this issue.
O.K., say you're running for Congress and you propose 
a gas tax, but your
opponent denounces you as a wimpy, tree-hugging 
girlie-man, a
tax-and-spender. What do you say back?

I'd say: "Oh, really? I guess you think it is smart, 
tough and patriotic for
us to be financing both sides in the war on 
terrorism ? the U.S. military
with our tax dollars, and Al Qaeda, Iran and various 
hostile Islamist
charities with our energy purchases.

"Now how patriotic is that? I guess you haven't 
noticed that today's global
economic playing field has been leveled and that 
three billion new players
from India, China and Russia have walked onto the 
field, buying new cars,
homes and refrigerators. So if we don't break our 
addiction to crude oil,
we're going to heat up this planet so much faster ? 
enough to melt the North
Pole and make Katrina look like a summer breeze.

"Now how smart is that? I guess you don't realize 
that because of this
climate change and the rising cost of crude, green 
technologies are going to
be the industry of the 21st century, and a gasoline 
tax is the surest way to
make certain that our industries innovate faster and 
dominate innovation in
green cars, homes and appliances.

"Finally, I guess you haven't noticed that the wave 
of democratization that
seemed unstoppable after the fall of the Berlin Wall 
has run into a black
counterwave of petro-authoritarianism. This black 
wave of oil-financed
autocrats ? Venezuela, Russia, Iran, Nigeria, Burma, 
Saudi Arabia ? has all
the money in the world now to turn back the 
democratic tide. And you think
doing nothing to reverse that is patriotic? Shame on 
you, you unpatriotic
wimp. Green is the new red, white and blue, pal. What 
color are you?"

That's what I'd say.

Maureen Dowd is on a book tour.

* Copyright 2006The New York Times Company