What amazes me is that this is not an exotic, high-wonk matter.

It lends itself to ordinary politics. And, of course, silly politicians have already tried several forms of stupid exploitation from left-wing tree-hugging to right-wing absurdity like the “hydrogen car” or merchantable malarky like “corn ethanol”.

Most politicians who have tried to exploit these matters politically rather than, say, in literature or film, have failed. But, they tried nothing more than trial balloons — a billion here and a billion there — and failed. So, it is an orphan issue actually.

But, what killed it is actually popular culture and sophistication about technology — something — like military affairs — professional politicians are almost totally removed from today.

Anyway, populists in Texas may take another run at this. I am looking at a party platform plank involving the old “oil import fee”, new-fangled “diesel tuning”, and increasingly available “bio-diesel” fuel. It is a hard sell to politicians, but the street loves it. And, those guys do have to get elected after they have exhausted themselves and the rest of us with their costly, media-centric, soap-operas and sound-bites.