why is that, in politics, no-brainers are usually non-starters.

(1) lowering the interstate speed limit to 55 mph (and enforcing it) would save thousands of lives and i don’t know how many billions of barrels of oil without sacrificing the sacrosanct american standard of living.

(2) between 2002 and 2008, the feds doled out $72 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel industries and $29 billion for renewables (half of which was for ethanol which is quite possibly even worse than oil)–see eli.org.

(3) when gas hit $4 gallon, people gave up their suvs and manufacturers dropped plans for new models. when gas prices dropped, suv sales went up. americans have short memories–keep a floor of at least $4/gallon under the price of gas and we’ll see sustained policy shifts.