There they were, the Republican presidential aspirants, touting their conservative bona fides and lining up behind an important principle. One by one, they vowed to support Big Government as it imposed its will on small businesses, debased free enterprise, and burdened working Americans with hidden taxes.

The scene was the Iowa Ag Summit earlier this week, where, thanks to the state’s first-in-the nation caucuses, the field of presumptive candidates came to declare fealty to the so-called Renewable Fuel Standard. The RFS is a mandate that Americans put billions of gallons of corn-based ethanol into their gas tanks each year even though they don’t want it and it makes no practical sense.

Apart from Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, they all supported the mandate, including Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, the latest conservative darling, who arrived at his pro-ethanol position thanks to a 180 degree reverse back flip that would have impressed a platform diver.

The parade of supplicants suggests that ending the mandate, which dates to a 2005 law, will not happen any time soon.

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