Conservatives and the SST

Ok, I'm reading The Republican War on Science, which I'll no doubt be writing about a lot as I go through it, but one thing struck out at me early in reading it.

On p 33 Chris Mooney says that "In fact, a key inspiration behind the 1973 birth of the Heritage Foundation was the Senate's vote, two years earlier, to cut funding for the supersonic transport program (SST)." Now the Heritage Foundation is one of the first, and still considered by many to be the premier, conservative Think Tank. According to National Review editor William A. Rusher, "If any conservative organization deserves pride of place, surely it is the Heritage Foundation."(1) The Heritage Foundation, like other conservative Think Tanks, claims to be for conservative principals, to wit:

Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institute - a think tank - whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.

emphasis added.

What I'm getting at, is why is a conservative organization, dedicated to limited government founded because the government chooses to get out of the business of designing commercial airliners. The answer is that they, like most of the rest of the modern conservative movement, are not for limited government. They are for a large, active and intrusive government that acts only in the interests of the already wealthy.

(1) quote obtained from daily Kos dKosopedia article on the Heritage foundation.