Clunkers are the new culture war icon

There’s a wicked debate underway over the cash-for clunkers program, the Federal subsidy that in theory encourages car-buyers to trade in their gas-guzzlers for lean, efficient models.

The biggest practical gripes about the program: it costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and it doesn’t require that people buy cars that are all that green.

Conservatives are also furious over the program, which they view as more evidence of government mismanagement.

The bottom line, though, is that the clunkers-program’s biggest hurdle has been its run-away popularity.

Everybody’s cashing in — so fast that the program ran out of money. And even many of the program’s conservative critics just can’t resist.

Here’s a posting on The Corner, the conservative blog site run by the National Review, written by Benjamin Zycher.

And so I asked the question on the minds of millions of my fellow concerned citizens: How can I get my snout into this trough?…

I am deeply ashamed of myself…but not sufficiently so to have forgone the $4,500.

And, to be blunt, I am hardly the only sinner in this congregation.

Mixed into Zycher’s argument is a lot of hand-wringing over how the program hurts the poor and the environment.

But he still nabbed the cash and the new car.

I think his essay says a lot about the conservative movement’s ambivalent relationship to big government.

Government spending and debt skyrocketed during the era when President Bush and the Republican Congress ran Washington.

(Yes, it’s gone up even faster under President Obama. He claims that’ll change after the recession subsides…we’ll see.)

And many conservative communities (rural towns in particular) are heavily dependent on government handouts for their economic well-being.

I don’t see this as hypocrisy exactly, but it demonstrates a deep muddle within the conservative movement.

Will the clunkers program be a success and a good deal for American taxpayers? Hard to say. The auto industry saw the best sales in July that it’s seen in a year.

This from the Wall Street Journal:

Meanwhile, some auto makers signaled they plan to raise production to restock showrooms emptied by months of production cuts and the government-fueled sales surge.

So what’s your experience? Did you cash in on a clunker? Do you feel like you sold out or was this a good, smart move on the part of the Obama Administration?