A big problem with conservatives (big and small ‘c’) is that they aren’t, in one respect, very conservative.
Not surprisingly, Paul Krugman:
… fiscal policy isn’t like climate policy, even though some people have tried to make the analogy (even as right-wingers who claim to be deeply concerned about long-term debt remain strangely indifferent to long-term environmental concerns). Delaying action on climate means releasing billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while we debate the issue; delaying action on entitlement reform has no comparable cost.
More surprisingly, Preston Manning, who argued at last week’s PICS Forum that a carbon tax is an ideal fit for Conservatives: a market-based way of pricing an externality in a way that unleashes creativity and entrepreneurial response. Instead, they’ve opted for a heavy-handed regulatory approach which, when in opposition, they’ve condemned as ineffective and wasteful.
Where are the real right-wingers when you need ’em?
