Long term investment in research for the public benefit is *absolutely* the role of government. Inertial barriers to innovation can be overcome to create shifts in industry focus with the proper incentives- the entire energy industry is so heavily subsidized by the government in so many different ways already that adding new players would require similarly intense subsidies just to begin to make competition possible on a level playing field. That's leaving aside the not-insubstantial startup costs and initial capital that any new or emerging business would need, and which disadvantages them against the established (dirty) means of production.

But that isn't even the issue here. The issue is the existing gas tax. Taxes affect the prices of the goods they apply to, and every economist able to scream reacted with horror, derision and condemnation when Clinton decided to support McCain's proposed 'tax holiday' plan. The fact that he's been talking about it for a while without generating this much comment reflects the fact that it simply wasn't taken seriously coming from him. When she lends her support to it and calls it 'bipartisan,' that lends the wild-eyed notion a level of legitimacy that it simply doesn't deserve.

As the economists have explained, not only would the plan, if you can honor it with such a title, result in INCREASED gas prices, but it would have perverse impacts on the global warming problem, probably hurt our economy, and be a significant windfall for the people selling us oil. Even if the price increases were small, and only offset the amount of the tax, leaving the price at the pump unchanged in total (best case scenario, really), that increase in price would go straight into the pockets of the oil companies and oil-producing nations, instead of, as the gas tax does, into a national fund for the maintenance and repair of our roads and bridges. To make up the difference in funding for those desperately needed repairs, we would increase the national debt (mostly to China- IF they continue to lend us money) which has to be paid back, with interest, by our kids down the road. That's the last thing our economy needs right now.