October 1973. OPEC imposes an embargo of oil exports to supporters of Israel.

35 years later. 2 nations reacted in opposite ways to the new reality. One did nothing except continue its profligate consumption, supported by exports from other nations. The other, within 5 years, developed a long-range plan to break its dependence on imported oil largely by switching as much as possible to ethanol produced internally.

The first nation is the U.S., which today continues its dependency on cheap foreign oil as it never developed a comprehensive energy policy. The second nation is Brazil, which imports no oil. Yes, Brazil subsidized ethanol production in the past.

Are the people of the U.S. going to burn those dollars they saved by not developing alternative fuels in their gas tanks? Oh wait, that money's being spent. In Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc., those nations with which we enjoy such amiable relations.

A number of folk, some of them with pretensions of superiority and media platforms from which to bloviate, are misusing the term 'Liberal'. It couldn't possibly be for their own agendas, now, could it? These type of arguments don't benefit the country any more than me calling these persons modern day wanna-be Fascists, the successors to Joseph Goebbels. These are the accepted definitions of the word,  none of which include 'Commies dedicated to the overthrow of the lawful U.S. government:  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/liberal