Tierney's carbon lament

Recommended reading: John Tierney on "Good Climate Policy, Bad Politics." Excerpt:

I’ve supported a carbon tax (with the revenues to be rebated directly to consumers and workers by depositing the money in personal retirement accounts) and would like to see something done to deal with the risks of climate change. But the political reality is that the kinds of policies likely to be enacted today are much inferior. They seem designed mainly to give politicians cover and pander to voters’ desire to feel virtuous. When your choices are inaction and a bad policy, what’s the moral course?

I think the moral course is to take what you can get, and keep suggesting a better way.