The Fourth Rail
By Mitch Berg
As Matt Abe notes over at North Star Liberty, pragmatism seems to be the order of the day:
After opposing them while he was a U.S. Senator, candidate Fred Thompson now backs billions in taxpayer subsidies to Archer Daniels Midland and Big Ag to burn our nation’s corn supply for fuel — while domestic oil exploration and petroleum refinery construction have been at a virtual standstill for years, conveniently providing the “crisis” that ethanol has been waiting to solve.
Ethanol may be a scam, but like light rail and SCHIP for all, it wins elections…
…or, more to the point, primaries. In rural states.
Don’t get me wrong. I grew up in a rural state. The notion that America could be run entirely according to coastal urban interests and still survive is comical. But the classic rural state cliche – rock-ribbed conservatives who send the likes of Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan and Tim Walz to Congress, to bring home all the swag they can frank – is a real thing, which leads to things like the ethanol boondoggle.
…even if it doesn’t solve the problems that it purports to solve, even with a blank check from the public treasury. Just ask Governor Tim Pawlenty — or former lieutenant governor candidate Judi “What’s E85?” Dutcher.
Ethanol’s a no-brainer — for politicians on both sides of the aisle. Tyler would certainly agree.
Sort of like paying your bookie.
October 15th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
You write the part about Walz, Dorgan, and Conrad as if no Republicans bring home the pork to their states/districts.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Not at all.
But places like NoDak – which hasn’t voted for a Dem more than once in the past 120 years – electing the likes of Dorgan is sorta like Boston electing a conservative republican.
October 15th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Don’t know much about the other two, but in 2006, was Gutknecht taking a hard line against farm supports or ethanol subsidies in particular?