The New Last Refuge of Scoundrels

11 Dec, 2002 by John Hawkins

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The New Last Refuge of Scoundrels by Alan Caruba: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel,” said Samuel Johnson on April 7, 1775. If the great man of British letters were alive today, he might amend that to say that, in America, “environmentalism is the new last refuge of scoundrels.” I surely would.

I was reminded of Johnson’s quote by two other quotes. They were by aspiring candidates for the Democrat Party’s nomination to be president in 2004. The trigger was news that the Environmental Protection Agency had decided to revise the rules concerning how much “pollution” could be released by utilities upon which we depend for electricity. (Cont)