Fuelling Disagreement

'Governments are afraid to use the word 'tax'.
I would much rather that they price petrol 
according to it's effect now to make electric
cars seem more attractive than bind a future
government to banning the petrol engine'
-Richard Thaler, co-author of 'Nudge'.

Governments are long used
to creating chaos in their own interests,
and the interests of their backers,
and further controlling the appearance
of the chaos, such that it appears to be order.

If governments wanted to,
in the interests of genuine green politics,
they could raise the price of fuel that high
that the price of petrol and diesel
made drivers reconsider travel
to the point where they go electric
or they stay off the roads
and reconsider the value of travel.

But the government won't do that,
the protest that would ensue
from any such move
might reawaken the urge
towards a more direct,
and deeper rooted, democracy.