"Vote Mark Udall for Even Higher Energy Prices"

Highlighting Mark Udall's out-of-touch energy policy has become a recent staple of this site. In that light, it was interesting to read these comments from new blogger "Civil Sense" about Mark Udall's acceptance speech at the Democratic assembly in Colorado Springs:

It sounds more like American energy dependence on government subsidies, not energy independence. This is more like the broken windows fallacy. In this scenario, breaking a window appears to increase economic activity since the window needs replacement. However, the money that the owner uses to replace the window could have been used for a multitude of other items. Fixing the window is just displaced economic activity.

The subsidies to “green” energy work the same way. For the government to spend millions of dollars to subsidize more expensive wind, solar, and biofuel energy, it first must displace this money from the taxpayers. Due to the market distortion, the “green” energy sources become more competitive with traditional energy sources than they would without the subsidies.

The statement that a renewable standard for electricity would save money for Colorado families is ludicrous on its face. For the foreseeable future, fossil fuels will provide the cheapest, most reliable energy source. Nuclear power is another low-cost power option. Forcing utilities to utilize 15 percent as renewable energy means that 15 percent of the energy will be is actually forcing utilities to buy more expensive energy from Mark Udall’s friends and campaign supporters in the “green” movement.

This speech suggests another campaign slogan: Vote Mark Udall for even higher energy prices.

Of course, it was the slogan that elicited attention: "Vote Mark Udall for Even Higher Energy Prices." There's reason to believe that's just what Udall wants: strain the budgets of middle-class Coloradans to impose a new lifestyle on them. Sorry, those aren't Western values.