"Conservative" Heritage Foundation promotes shortsighted waste
by David Atkins
Remember when being "conservative" meant being boring and responsible, seeing the realities of the world and not taking off on flights of fancy in the pursuit of irrational feel-good excess?
Yeah. Well, every so often we get reminded of how low "conservatives" have fallen with stuff like this:
The conservative group Heritage Action is urging lawmakers to vote "no" on the energy efficiency bill set to hit the Senate floor next week.
Heritage charges that the bill, which promotes energy saving in industrial and commercial buildings, provides incentives that would "burden taxpayers and consumers."
"This inappropriate intervention comes in the form of ‘voluntary’ federal mandates and taxpayer funded subsidies for energy efficiency updates in state government and tribal buildings," Heritage states.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said during the spring recess that he wanted to bring the energy efficiency bill to the floor shortly after Congress returned.
A majority of lawmakers back the bill, which is a revamped version of last year's version. Additional amendments from Republicans were sought to ensure the bill wasn't killed this time around.
Energy saving is something pretty much everyone can agree on. Saving energy reduces cost, decreases reliance on oil, and doesn't require major interventions or spending programs. It's something Republicans and Democrats should both be able to get behind.
And indeed, most lawmakers are behind it. But not Heritage Action, banner carrier for Washington's conservative vanguard. For most conservatives, the movement has been redefined as letting the biggest corporations and money men do whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want. It's the very definition of amoral insanity, and has nothing to do with conservatism as it should be.
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