Rent seeking Republicans
That would include almost all of the establishment beltway Republicans:
Ethanol subsidies, oil drilling incentives, government insurance and loan guarantees for nuclear energy, natural gas subsidies: These proposals tend to have as many or more Republican advocates as Democratic advocates. Even worse, self-described free-market conservatives often rally for energy subsidies and claim it’s not a deviation from their principles.
Timothy Carney is exactly right. And in fact, defenders of these sorts of subsidies are easy to find – Newt Gingrich for instance:
Q. Your energy proposals consist largely of incentives — essentially, subsidies. You’ve also fought efforts to remove subsidies from fossil fuels. If you support free, open, and competitive markets, shouldn’t you support removing subsidies that distort the market?
A. [Gingrich] Not if you believe that a low-cost energy regime is essential to our country — both in terms of its internal transportation cost and its competitiveness in the world market.
Of course that argument can be made for absolutely any politically desired program. In fact, Democrats make it for solar and wind power.
So, when you hear establishment Republicans talk about “free markets” it’s really not what they’re talking about – instead they’re talking about favored businesses. Or, as Carney points out, they’re more pro-business than pro-market. Crony capitalism – not free markets.
As Dan Riehl argues that’s why grassroots conservatives and establishment “conservatives” really don’t see eye to eye:
Herein lies the dirty little secret of why the GOP is slow to actually empower the grassroots and conservative movement. It’s also why, in some measure, we can no longer rely on the so called Beltway conservative establishment. Just like Republicans, they’ve come to rely on corporate money, allowing them to drive a large part of their agenda.
Or, unsurprisingly, they’ve been co-opted – more in a long line politicians reduced to rent-seeking for favored corporations to fund their re-election campaigns.
When the GOP talks about being “pro-market”, you’re advised to take that with a grain of salt.
~McQ