Assessing the Heartland Institute and its Credibility

Instead of a warm welcoming sign, the Heartland Institute, the think tank that promotes “free-market,” “personal liberty” and “limited government,” puts forward a “Stopping Socialism” sign on the front page of their website.

Next that comes into view is The Heartland Institute’s mission, which is “to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems.” Due to the organization’s strong political bias, with its tendency towards manipulative tactics, the Heartland Institute appears not to be a credible source.

Author

Christopher Talgo, the editor and the author of the Heartland Institute, lacks qualifying credentials and uses hyperbolic language to display his right wing bias.  In the website, Talgo published his article, “Green New Deal Guarantees More Red Tape and Red Ink,” which includes the author’s About Page. According to his About Page, Talgo has been the editor of the Heartland Institute since 2017. He taught American history and government in Bluffton, South Carolina for five years and his hobby includes history and social science.  A person with an editorial position should have qualifying credentials; however, Talgo lacks his credentials that would make him a credible source. There is no information about his educational background or information on where he taught and whether or not he has teaching credentials.

Talgo also published the same article in the blog, which is hosted by the Heartland Institute, called “The Heartland Freedom Pub.”  This time, the blog introduces Talgo as the “marketing coordinator, “who is responsible for promoting the Heartland Institute, while the organization previously introduced him as the editor. Not only does he not have credentials to be an editor, but also he does not have credentials to be a marketing coordinator. This discrepancy in Talgo’s positions raises a question about credibility and authenticity of the author and the Heartland Institute.

The Author’s Use of Hyperbolic Language

In addition, Christopher Talgo published articles that indicate his biased viewpoints, which ultimately contributes to the organization’s lack of credibility.  In Talgo’s article, “San Francisco Wants to Devastate its Economy to Help the Homeless,”  he discusses Proposition C, which passed by 60 percent of the votes last November. It is a homeless tax measure that levies 0.5% in gross receipts tax on corporations that make more than $50 million, which will generate about $300 million a year towards homelessness. Talgo quotes, “However, despite the numerous benefits they’ve received from successful businesses, San Franciscans seem intent on taxing to death the golden geese that have made the Golden Gate City a modern mecca for technology.” First, the word, “death” is a very powerful word that elicits a strong negative emotion and “taxing to death” implies exaggeration. Talgo further writes, “The new taxes are so destructive that these voters have effectively decided to commit economic suicide.”  The words, “destructive” and “suicide” are hyperbole, and they also denote extreme negativity. In addition, Talgo does not have an evidence to back up his claim that San Francisco will commit “economic suicide.” It is safe to say that the author is an alarmist with his excessive use of provocative words, and he is very forceful in his biased point of view. As a result, he diminishes his neutrality and his own credibility.

Talgo’s second article on February 14, 2019, “Green New Deal Guarantees More Red Tape and Red Ink” with a subheading, “No doubt most Americans have heard of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N-Y., and her “Green New Deal,” is another example of the author and the organization’s political bias.  Green New Deal is an economic and environmental policy that attempts to address climate change and bring economic reform (Friedman). According to the Oxford Dictionaries, “red tape” is defined as excessive bureaucracy or adherence to rules and formalities, especially in public business,” and “red ink” is also defined as “used in reference to financial deficit or debt.” Hence, the author suggests that Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal is a sign of excessive government control which will lead to financial loss.  Although the author uses multiple hyperlinks to back up his argument, he only uses references from only right wing sources such as Investor’s Business Daily, Reason, a website that promotes “free mind and free market,” and Mercatus Center, which is a conservative think tank.  Because the author only uses right leaning sources,  this shows his tendency towards extreme conservatism.

In addition, Talgo writes, “What Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t tell people is that her GND would bring an economic apocalypse that would totally bankrupt the nation.” However, “Economic apocalypse” is hyperbolic language. In an attempt to back up his negatively loaded language, he hyperlinked his quotation to the Investor’s Business Daily, another right leaning website that uses the word “socialism” to refer to Green New Deal.  Talgo is very biased in his viewpoint because he only uses right-wing sources to back up his argument, and this ultimately makes him lose his credibility.

Lack of Accuracy

The Heartland Institute demonstrates lack of credibility due to inaccurate information-not supported by facts-generated from its narrow-mindedness. Jay Lehr, the science director, and Tom Harris, executive director at the Heartland Institute, published an article, “ Debunked: Humans Have Minimal Impact on Atmosphere’s Carbon Dioxide and Climate,” on February 14, 2019. The authors posit that “climate impacts of carbon dioxide” are minimal and calls global warming a “climate alarmism.” .” The authors further quote, “The claim that fossil-fuel emissions control atmospheric carbon-dioxide concentrations is also invalid, as atmospheric concentrations have gone up and down in the geological record, even without human influence.” The authors do not present any factual evidence and statistics to back up their statement, and there are no hyperlinks to any outside resources, which weaken their argument.

At the same time, NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government, published an article in their website, “Carbon Dioxide Controls Earth’s Temperature” on October 14, 2010. In the article, Kathryn Hansen claims, “It is not surprising then that global warming can be linked directly to the observed increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and to human industrial activity in general.” NASA’s report clearly disputes the Heartland Institute’s statement that human activities do not influence emission of carbon dioxide and global warming.  It is apparent that the Heartland Institute ignores scientific findings backed up by a distinguished and nationally acclaimed organization like NASA and distorts truth so that they can construct their faulty and biased argument doubting human-caused climate change.

Criticisms from other reputable sources

The Heartland Institute is not a credible website due to the organization’s unfair, one-sided view. A 2012 New York Times article, “Leak Offers Glimpse of Campaign Against Climate Science” written by Justin Gillis and Leslie Kaufman, refutes the Heartland Institute’s credibility because of its stance on denial of global warming.  According to the information provided by the New York Times, Justin is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and he is writing a book on how to solve global warming, and Leslie Kaufman is a communication strategist.  Gillis and Kaufman claim that the Heartland Institute has received funds from various corporations that deny climate change, and the authors show concern towards the Heartland Institute’s intention to instill a curriculum against climate change in public schools. The authors question the Heartland Institute’s belief, “whether humans are changing the climate is a major scientific controversy.”  To back their argument, the authors of the article claim that there is a significant amount of evidence which supports that “emissions generated by humans are changing the climate and putting the planet at long-term risk.” They further quote the program and policy director of the National Center for Science Education, “they (the Heartland Institute) continue to promote confusion, doubt and debate where there really is none.” Given this article, the Heartland Institute is not a credible organization because it ignores scientific evidence backed up many scientists regarding the global warming and the climate change.

Science Magazine, a peer-reviewed journal and a very reputable source known for its high factual reporting, has also discredited the Heartland Institute for the organization’s unreliable research finding. They published the article, “Climate Change Doubters are Finalists for Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board” on October 18, 2018. In the article, the author, Scott Waldman, struggles hard to hide his concern that United States Environmental Protection Agency’s nominees included those who refute climate change. Waldman states that among those nominees is James Enstrom, a “policy advisor for the Heartland Institute,” whose research has reached “vastly different conclusions from those of the majority of scientists,” and is “scientifically unjustified and must undergo complete and objective reassessment.” Undeniably, Science Magazine shows that the Heartland Institute lacks its credibility because of its inaccurate interpretation of findings by majority of scientists.

Conclusion

In summary, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the Heartland Institute is a biased political organization intended to promote extreme right-wing agenda. Because the organization blatantly ignores scientific evidence and misuses information to align with its purpose, the Heartland Institute is not a credible website.

Works Cited

The Heartland Institute, 2019,  www.heartland.org. Accessed 15 Mar 2019.

Talgo, Christopher. “San Francisco Wants to Devastate its Economy to Help the Homeless.” The Heartland Institute, 10 Jan 2019. https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/san-francisco-wants-to-devastate-its-economy-to-help-the-homeless.  Accessed 15 Mar 2019.

Talgo, Christopher. “Green New Deal Guarantees More Red Tape and Red Ink.” The Heartland Institute, 14 Feb 2019, https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/green-new-deal-guarantees-more-red-tape-and-red-ink. Accessed 10 Mar 2019.

Gillis, Justin and Leslie Kaufman. “Leak Offers Glimpse of Campaign Against Climate Science.” The New York Times, 15 Feb 2012. Accessed 15 Mar 2019.

Friedman, Lisa. “What is the Green New Deal? A Climate Proposal, Explained.” The New York Times, 21 Feb 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/climate/green-new-deal-questions-answers.html?login=email&auth=login-email. Accessed 12 March 2019.

Hansen, Kathryn. “Carbon Dioxide Controls Earth Temperature.” NASA, 14 Oct 2014. https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/co2-temperature.html. Accessed 15 Mar 2019.

Lehr, Jay and Tom Harris. “ Debunked: Humans Have Minimal Impact on Atmosphere’s Carbon Dioxide and Climate.” The Heartland Institute,14 Feb 2019, https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/global-warming-myth-debunked-humans-have-minimal-impact-on-atmospheres-carbon-dioxide-and-cli. Accessed 10 Mar 2019.

Waldman, Scott. “Climate Change Doubters are Finalists for Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board.”  Science, 18 Oct 2018.  https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/10/climate-change-doubters-are-finalists-environmental-protection-agency-science-advisory.  Accessed 15 Mar 2019.

“red tape.” en.oxforddictionaries.com. 2019. Oxford Dictionaries, 2019. Accessed 10 Mar 2019.

“red ink.” en.oxforddictionaries.com. 2019. Oxford Dictionaries, 2019. Accessed 10 Mar 2019.