In addition to the declining economy, high prices themselves have helped to bring prices down — in defense of their wallets, people have been driving less and switching to smaller cars, for instance. And, interestingly, the lower prices could help buck up the declining economy — all kinds of businesses will be helped and consumers will have more cash to spend on other things. It's kind of like getting regular giveaway checks.

So given all of this, my political friends, here is what you should say in your letters of apology — that you played the role of publicity-seeking, demagogic, irresponsible, scapegoating frauds, that you are sorry, very, very sorry, and that you won't do it again. You should put these letters in perfumed envelopes and mail them not just to oil-company managers and speculators, but to the general public, people you deceived for the sake of your own advancement, thus rendering our democracy less informed, more divided and more likely to travel in wrong directions.

Oh, and by the way, pay for the stamps out of your own pockets.

Jay Ambrose, formerly Washington director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard newspapers and the editor of dailies in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, is a columnist living in Colorado. He can be reached at SpeaktoJay@aol.com