Rounding out my “examining both sides and finding them wanting” trio, in a piece contrasting the president’s energy policy with Gov. Romney’s the Lexington column at The Economist points out:
As befits the small-government candidate, he argues for less regulation, laxer environmental standards and fewer subsidies. He criticises Mr Obama for favouring pet firms and technologies. He recently said that he would allow a tax credit that serves as the main incentive for wind power to lapse, to howls of dismay from Republicans and Democrats alike in windy states.
But Mr Romney abjures any concerted effort to stem global warming. He wants to repeal the government’s power to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, but does not propose any alternative. While still governor of Massachusetts, in 2005, he backed away from a regional emissions-trading scheme that he had initially supported, and then lambasted John McCain in the Republican presidential primaries of 2008 for proposing something similar.
I think this highlights a problem of Democrats, generally, and progressives in particular: I believe they tend to undervalue the role of incentives. Getting the incentives right is essential.
