George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But what would he say about those who can remember past folly yet are determined to repeat it anyway? That’s the head-scratching scenario playing out amid the nationwide furor over rising gasoline prices and record oil industry earnings.

A bipartisan group of legislators on Capitol Hill and in various state legislatures are considering enacting a slew of proposals to institute windfall profits taxes on major oil companies. The funny thing is that a similar tax scheme was tried not very long ago, and it failed spectacularly.