Many Americans are tired of waiting for automakers to develop mass-market solutions to our oil-dependent cars. They're converting cars to run on electricity on their own, according to a Smart Money article Clark read.

The conversion kits cost a few thousand dollars, but the benefit is that you can use zero imported oil to run your car. Now, if people in their own garages can make any car run on electricity, just think what the collective wisdom of our nation could do toward creating independence from foreign oil. Our national security depends on it.

Or we could just continue to fund oil-rich nations like Russia. Putin is taking zillions of our petrol dollars and creating mischief in Soviet Georgia. Western democracies have been long-time supporters of Soviet Georgia. But Russia isn't going to allow them to go democratic. If you're in doubt, just look at Putin's eyes -- which Clark's wife calls "shark eyes" with their cold, lifeless look. Boy, did Bush have it wrong early in his administration when he thought he found a soulmate in Putin.

Big Oil, meanwhile, thinks we'll need petrol forever. But we're getting so close to energy independence, especially with solar and wind. What we need is a coherent national energy policy to make it happen.

Right now, a focus on the overriding national interest is what's missing in the oil/alternative energy debate. Government is stuck. It's individuals who are instead making it happen. And for that, Clark salutes you.