With the nation in frenzy over rising gasoline prices, congressional Republicans almost had a two-fer: Eliminate the 4.3 cent federal gas tax increase passed by a Democratic-controlled Congress in 1993; label it the Gore Tax, after the vice president who cast the tie-breaking vote. It would have worked had not a subset of the party, those who know something about transportation policy, pointed out a small problem — that 4.3 cents buys a lot of roads and bridges.

There was another problem with cutting the fuel tax: It wouldn’t lower fuel prices. When demand for gasoline remains high, cutting gasoline taxes — which are built into the price paid at the pump — won’t lead to gasoline price cuts. There is no incentive for vendors to reduce their prices if they know that they are going to sell a certain amount of gasoline, give or take a few dozen gallons, in a given week. As a result, cutting the tax would only give those up the pipeline, refiners and producers, another 4.3 cents per gallon in profit, hardly the intent of those who fume for relief.

It will take a long time — several months at least — for Americans to amend their habits enough to cause a significant change in fuel-use patterns. We learned that from the oil crisis of the early 1970s; the embargo that crippled U.S. fuel supplies was not lifted until Americans got past the denial and anger stages and engaged in enough energy conservation to reduce demand and, not coincidentally, to hurt the revenues of oil-producing countries.

Ask yourself: Short of perhaps not going on a long car trip or two, do you use your car less often today than you did two months ago? Do you now carpool to work, if you didnt before? Do you make one big trip to the grocery store each week instead of going daily? Do you ride the bus for errands around town? Does your town even have a bus?

The solutions proposed by President Clinton in his weekly radio address Saturday, including crating a New England heating oil reserve and tax incentives to spur domestic production, can in years to come help prevent temporary shortages and avert emergencies. A “swap” with refineries; they get petroleum now from the strategic reserve and replace it with larger amounts later when OPEC production increases, can provide short-term, though not immediate, relief.

But these are not are not solutions that discourage the use of fuel. Even a national gas-out, a proposal for a two-day period in April of not purchasing gasoline that has been circulating via e-mail, is merely symbolic. Unless and until Americans amend their heavy dependence on imported petroleum, fluctuations in fuel prices will continue to be something they can do little about. Except complain.