Conservative blinders

Digby brings to my attention the words of the venerable conservative icon Rush Limbaugh:

With gasoline prices now under two bucks in most places and dropping, and the price of oil (I checked it right before the program) below $50 now ($49 a barrel it was earlier today.) So with the gas price under two bucks and oil plummeting, what would you say, Pelosi and Reid, if the car companies could become profitable by selling SUVs or go broke by turning out the green cars that you're going to demand they make?

Ah, the hypocrisy of the Right Wing mindset.

This is what I like to refer to as "conservative blinders." You're focused exclusively on short-term interests because things are precisely the way you want them. Nevermind that they're going to change, and nevermind that you're not going to like the change. Things are the way they are right now and thus there's no need to change anything.

Gasoline is under two bucks in most place right now but we had a taste of what life is like when it's over four bucks. The price of oil is under $50 a barrel right now, but we had a taste of what life is like when it's over $150. What makes you think those prices aren't going to skyrocket again? What makes you think it's safe to drive SUVs without concern for the future, either to our pocket books or to the global environment? Things are the way we want them right now, and the future will just sort itself out, right?

Short-term policies are a specialty for the GOP. Deregulating industries are good for the nation -- in the short term. Global warming is a problem for the future, so we'll let our children and grandchildren worry about it when it comes time to pay the bill. About the only long-term thinking the GOP ever engages in amounts to gambling: their policies are good for the rich and you want to be rich, right? So support our policies in the increasingly rare event that you get to be rich like us!

I don't want Detroit to start putting out efficient, environmentally-friendly vehicles because they're going to be cheaper. I want Detroit to do it because it's going to be better for everybody in the long run. I don't want my children or their children to have to pay the bill we're creating for them. Of course, if they can't put out a car that won't fall apart while I drive it, I'm still not going to buy from them. My Corolla just passed the 225000 mile mark on its original engine, and it shows no signs of dropping any time soon. Until Detroit can match that, I'm going to continue to buy Corollas in the future.

At least, I will when I have the money to do it. For some reason, the GOP is good at producing policies to protect the rich, but not so good at producing policies that help people achieve that increasingly rarefied status.