He's been in a slump, but this one on a gas tax is well worth reading. To his credit, Friedman has been banging the drum about taxing gasoline for as long and as strongly as anybody. The idea is not new, but the effort to frame the tax as a masculine national security imperative is crucial to getting weak-kneed U.S. policymakers to do what should have been done 40 years ago. Friedman hits this note as well as anybody.

Us Americans like to think that we are "man" enough to face a dangerous world with force while the Europeans pussyfoot around. But meanwhile we are unable to take a simple measure that would greatly strengthen our geopolitical position. It is an issue that honest policymakers have had a consensus on for decades- which has the added bonus of helping to prevent carbon dioxide from ruining our planet.  What will it take for politicians to get this done already?

- Jon