Oregon Is Greener Than Thou. Environmentalist self-righteousness is so unaware of itself as to be entertaining.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

In the end, the Kitzhaber-Hayes conflict-of-interest scandal may prove small potatoes (organic), but a general point needs to be made. In our republican system of government, we don’t assume virtue. We insist on checks and balances. We require competitive bidding and similarly transparent procedures to reduce discretion and the chances of corruption. We subject regulations to cost-benefit analysis to make sure the public is really being served.

In Kitzhaber World, there is no need for any of this—because everyone involved is a credentialed environmentalist! It doesn’t matter if his fiancée was lobbying for private environmental clients, Mr. Kitzhaber said, because all are on the same team pursuing the same selfless goals.

Maybe religions have to be around for a while before they discover the wisdom of inoculating themselves against the imbecility of self-righteousness. If so, environmentalism is still traveling the downward leg.

An article well worth your time.