How to lower gas prices

First off, don't drive.

No. 2, get an electric car.

No. 3, buy a Prius.

No. 4, arrest the speculators. The recent run-up in prices can be blamed mostly on speculators.

Unfortunately, those solutions are beyond the means, and practicality, of most Americans.

That is the conundrum we find ourselves in.

We are addicted to oil and don't want to end that addiction because it requires us to change.

And, it's as American as apple pie to refuse any 12-step process that will change us for the better.

Right now, until electric vehicles can go farther than 100 miles without recharging overnight, the gas-electric hybrid is a step in the right direction.

But, it is not the end-game. Far from it.

The ultimate vehicle will be one that is fully electric, can go 500 miles without recharging and then recharge fully in an hour.

That vehicle is a few years off.

Until then, the vehicle manufacturers need to phase out the gas-powered car in favor of the gas-electric hybrid. They need to make sedans as well as small SUVs that get 50 miles per gallon.

As the hybrid then becomes the norm, it buys time until the electric vehicle takes over.

Of course, electric vehicles, by themselves, won't reduce our consumption of fossil fuels that power our electrical grid.

We'll need government to require solar power on all homes where the sun shines.

That will take decades to accomplish, but until we do it, we'll be fighting wars in some god-forsaken place and paying a premium at the pump.

It's our choice.