Now is the time

We now have the time and the opportunity to break our addiction to oil.  The price is plunging, alternative sources of energy are more competitive than ever and the looming crisis of climate change will challenge the livability of the blue planet if we don't take this chance to change course.  A new carbon tax on oil, a hike in the gas tax to pay for infrastructure improvements and more research in mass transit and home heating alternatives will pay big dividends when the price of oil inevitably rises.  The sticking point is the will of our "leaders" to actually do what we elected them to do.  With a Republican congress firmly in the pocket of the oil companies there seems to be little hope of any of the above prescriptions becoming law anytime soon.  The President can use the "bully pulpit" to exhort and cajole, but aside from proposing new regulations which will be shot down by congress he has little real power.  The last time a president tried to get Americans to change their habits it was seen as weakness and Jimmy Carter lost the next election to Ronald Reagan who promptly removed solar panels from the White House roof.  I can only hope we learned a lesson from that debacle.