How much more will such cars cost? Less than $150 -- a small sacrifice for the war effort. And you'd actually pay less than that once tax incentives were included in the deal. Also think of the FFV as a safety feature, akin to seatbelts and airbags, except that in this case you'll be buying national security rather than protection in the event of a collision.
In addition, DRIVE would provide incentives for both manufacturers and purchasers of "plug-in hybrids," cars that can run on electricity, a source of energy not dependent on petroleum. A commuter traveling less than about 40 miles a day would plug in his car at night and go months without re-filling his tank -- and when he did it could be with an alternative fuel.
What might those fuels be? In Brazil, an increasing number of cars run on ethanol made from sugar, a crop that grows easily in tropical climates. Currently, the American tariff on such fuel is 54 cents a gallon -- compared to zero cents a gallon for Middle Eastern oil. I would hope we could find a few politicians courageous enough to stand up to the lobbyists who favor discriminating against poor South American farmers while subsidizing Saudi billionaires and fire-breathing Iranian mullahs.
Other ideas that Congress should consider: The tar sands of Alberta contain as much energy as the deserts of Arabia. The Canadian Coalition for Democracies is pushing for a U.S.-Canadian partnership that would exploit the tar sands for the benefit of both countries on a long-term basis.
Let's be clear: Oil will be a valuable resource for decades to come and American will not be "energy independent" any time soon. But we'd hand over less money to terrorist masters if we put an end to oil's monopoly, and diminished the dominance of oil controlled by despots who conspire to destroy us.
We have the scientific, technological and entrepreneurial abilities. What's most needed now is the political will.