As gas prices have continued to climb they seem no longer to have the ability to shock us. Instead, we note each hike in the cost of a gallon of gas with what appears to be a mixture of morbid fascination and grim helplessness, as if we’ve known all along another shoe is about to drop, and then another shoe and another.

Indeed, $4 for a gallon of gas almost seems like an anticlimax now, since some forecasters are calling for the cost of a gallon of gas to go higher than $6 per gallon by this time next summer. That's worrisome. But it is worth noting that certain parts of the world have long paid a much steeper cost for gas. And while you can argue on both sides of the fence with regard to whether inexpensive fuel has helped prolong America’s dependence on both foreign oil and the gasoline combustion engine, a dirty, polluting technology, the most immediate problem with the cost of gas is it is affecting every other part of an economy already troubled by the credit crunch. The cost of fuel is driving up the cost of food and other services, thus hammering at Americans' budgets from every possible angle. With that said, our reaction to the crisis has been underwhelming. Personal responsibility – slowing down, taking fewer trips, driving more fuel efficient cars – is an option too few still seem to care to exercise. Yet most disappointing of all has been the actions of our leaders at the federal and state level. This is a time for bold measures aimed at ending our dependence on oil, once and for all. It's a time for those who would lead us to set that as a goal and find a way for us to get there.

After all, this is the country that first put a man on the moon. We need that same spirit of adventure and "can do" attitude now.