In late December, Idaho Governor Butch Otter sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, warning them that if health care reform passed, he would consider legal action in order to halt what he called "a crushing unfunded mandate." Idahoans have long been virulently opposed to progressive initiatives and have tended to elect staunchly conservative Senators and Representatives.
In recent weeks, members of the Idaho delegation - Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Risch and Representatives Mike Simpson and Walt Minnick - have cast votes opposing health care reform and an important appropriations bill. According to their official press releases, all four are fighting for fiscal responsibility, limited government and the free market and against what many on the right see as creeping socialism.
But when their own constituents are in need, constituents that they themselves would label "special interest groups" if the issue was being brought forth by their political opponents on the left, the four abandon Friedrich von Hayek and head straight to the waiting arms of John Maynard Keynes.
In a letter recently sent to Rayne Pegg, Administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, the Idaho quartet suddenly forgot their free market ideals and asked for what amounts to a bailout of their state's potato industry.
Mike Crapo, who has railed against health care reform by arguing for the "importance of a free market approach" and the need for "personal responsibility," is now asking the USDA to purchase surplus potatoes to benefit his state's potato farmers.
"Potato growers are struggling right now with their returns, which are quite low. Without action," the group writes, "the combination of a high supply and low prices will drive many growers in the State of Idaho and throughout the country to go out of business."
The hypocrisy is evident and in fact, twofold. First, conservatives claim to want government as small as possible and support efforts to take government out of the picture and allow the invisible hand to work its magic. Here, conservatives are calling on the government to step in and buy surplus potatoes because overproduction has put downward pressure on price.
Next, conservatives have historically opposed social programs, including Medicare, arguing that it is not the government's job to ensure equity, only to secure people's freedom. In this case, the quartet is calling for the government to purchase potatoes which will then be used for federal nutrition programs.
To be sure, small family farmers in Idaho need the support of the federal government, especially when that support has the added benefit of nutrition. Such policies are advocated for by many on the left and in fact, constitute the essence of progressive government.
But there is a disconnect.
When it comes to needed health care reform, conservatives are quick to defend the free market apparatus that is largely responsible for the antiquated health care delivery system we currently have. When farmers in their state overproduce and potato prices fall, Crapo, Risch, Simpson and Minnick suddenly drop their copies of The Road to Serfdom and pick up The General Theory.
If only they kept on reading.
Crossposted at Media Matters Action Network