Politics & Power Quote by Sherwood Boehlert

Boehlert’s line is the sound of American climate-and-energy policy colliding with American politics and losing. He opens with a blunt read of the electorate: no “groundswell” for gas taxes. That word choice matters. It frames taxation not as an economic instrument but as a legitimacy problem, something that requires mass enthusiasm rather than sober acceptance. The subtext is an admission that the most straightforward lever - pricing fuel to reflect its costs - is politically radioactive.

So he pivots to the second-best option: fuel economy standards. Calling them the “only effective tool” is strategic understatement and a little bit of institutional sleight of hand. Standards don’t feel like taxes, even if they can reshape behavior in comparable ways. They hide the cost in sticker prices, engineering mandates, and longer replacement cycles. In other words: policy by stealth, because transparent sacrifice can’t survive a campaign season.

The rhetorical engine here is urgency paired with constraint. “Dangerous and ever growing consumption” is Boehlert’s moral indictment of status quo habits, but “right now” and “as a nation” narrow the field to what Congress can plausibly do without detonating public backlash. This is the governing paradox of U.S. energy reform: everyone agrees oil dependence is a problem, few accept the immediate price signals that would reduce it.

Contextually, the quote sits comfortably in an era when Washington treated efficiency standards as the bipartisan workaround - tougher than voluntary action, softer than taxation - a way to claim seriousness while dodging the political cost of asking drivers to pay more at the pump.