Failed Energy Policy

Everyone is suddenly aware that we're dependent on oil. Baby steps, I guess. My questions continue to be:

1. If oil (a known finite resource!!) is so vital to national security that we'd go war for it, why hasn't the government been pouring money into developing alternative energy sources? Especially knowing that oil money funds despotic middle eastern regimes and terrorists. Two birds.... one stone. Blah blah blah.
   
2. Why hasn't the government been pro-actively, incrementally, pushing aggressively higher energy standards on cars? Car companies would have been much closer to handling the need/desire for fuel efficient cars we're going to start seeing and American car companies, in particular, could have become industry leaders instead of standing on the verge of bankruptcy with their giant trucks and SUVs.
   

Just think where we might be today (like, not in a massive economic panic) if we'd spent the last eight years or so turning the ship around instead of staring at the iceberg and trying to install democracies on it.