Driving us towards renewable energy

I read a CNN article proposing that we add new taxes onto gas and other fossil fuels in order to promote research and development of non-fossil/greenhouse gas emitting energy. The last few lines of the article are worth quoting:

To this last point, Rosenblum and other supporters say the carbon tax can be offset with tax breaks, like a reduction in the payroll tax.

That way, they say, the government could discourage something it doesn't want - pollution - and encourage something it does - employment - through the tax code.

Still, a carbon tax has attracted scant supporters in Congress.

When Rep. Peter Stark (D-Calif.) proposed one last year, it attracted a total of three co-sponsors among the 435 House members.

"I know it's widely popular and makes a lot of sense to economists and academics," said one Democrat Senate staffer. "But unless a member of Congress was considering early retirement, it's not an approach they would consider on the Hill. It's political suicide."

This is the problem with the way Congress works... or maybe its what the founders intended.