Senate Republicans blocked a proposal Tuesday to tax the windfall profits of the largest oil companies, despite pleas by Democratic leaders to use the measure to address America's anger over $4 a gallon gasoline. 

The Democratic energy package would have imposed a tax on any "unreasonable" profits of the five largest U.S. oil companies and given the federal government more power to address oil market speculation that the bill's supporters argue has added to the crude oil price surge.

"Americans are furious about what's going on," declared Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and want Congress to do something about oil company profits and "an orgy of speculation" on oil markets.

But Republicans argued the Democratic proposal focusing on new oil industry taxes is not the answer to the country's energy problems.

"The American people are clamoring for relief at the pump," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., but if taxes are increased on the oil companies "they will get exactly what they don't want. The bill will raise taxes, increase imports."

The Democrats failed, 51-43, to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster and bring the energy package up for consideration.

 First of all, the stated objectives on both sides of this are flawed.  Using legislation to address "anger", especially when the rage is over what has become a norm whether we like it or not, is misguided at best, if not outright pandering.  Plus, I always find it curious when the party popularly considered more environment-friendly ignores that higher fuel costs are aiding that cause without them having to lift a finger. 

At least the Democratic view can be seen as muddled, as opposed to the Republican tack of being openly delusional: No, the price of gas is not going to go back to $1, or even $2, probably not even $3*.  Since it's unrealistic to actually expect the relief people are clamoring for (especially considering we're going bonkers over prices many countries have been dealing with for years), this rhetoric can only mean one thing: they want to give Big Oil more breaks.  No surprise there, tell 'em "no" and move on.

Now, when it comes to the process behind the goals, it's safe to say I'm waaaaay off the reservation.  However, imagine that the context of this move were reinterpreted... 

Oil companies have enjoyed a huge amount of help from political connections.  Targeted tax breaks, regulatory structures that weaken alt-fuels right out of the gate, all the way to outright subsidizing their operating costs, making the space between cost & profit much larger than it would naturally be (I'd argue a substantial chunk of our foreign policy amounts to this.  If you think gas is high NOW, imagine if the cost of all the global wheel-greasing involved were factored in).  Instead of a pseudo-populist narrative of punishment -- which seems to leave these facts out for some reason -- suppose this policy were sold to the public as if its creators have Dean Baker's "The Conservative Nanny State" somewhere on their shelves or hard drives?  Imagine if the tactic were to point out how much government favors were involved in obtaining those profits, negating the myth that oil companies operate in anything close to a free market, and adopt an air of "you've got to be kidding me" with regards to refusing to pay for those favors.

If this sounds familiar, it's because such a view takes a stab at my request that, as long as there is government, funding it be determined based on asking who truly benefits from it.  I wouldn't say this is what I had in mind, but expressing this as such would be an opening, both for my view and for mainstream liberals.  Even with the failure of this particular legislation, the tactic I describe could be adapted: simply respond to the failure with "sorry, no freebies!", and very publically push to wipe out as many of their privileges as is politically possible, smacking down any GOP griping by painting them as the corporate equivalent of Bolsheviks. 

(* - I'd suggest the cause of the current oil market madness would break down 40/40/20: 40% the dollar plunge due to our spiraling debt & the panicky Fed "liquidity" flood; 40% reaction to our beligerent foreign policy by the nations that have enough oil under their turf to hold sway; 20% negative speculation that is fast becoming self-fulfilling prophecy.  Each influences and reinforces the other.  Dealing with these seriously is going to require a long, extremely difficult process with several figures involved essentially committing political suicide to drag us towards a sanity they will never see themselves.  I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.)