tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post3734206263329503687..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: You Keep Using That Word...Jonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-88767531984846976862011-07-10T16:12:43.745-05:002011-07-10T16:12:43.745-05:00I interpret "fiscal conservative" to sim...I interpret "fiscal conservative" to simply mean a person who favors tax and spending cuts. <br />While a lot of the people who fit that description give A LOT of lip service to deficits, I interpet that to be some combination of posturing and trying to use deficits as a boogeyman to get more spending cuts.<br />I read that sentence to mean "Dems wanted tax increases, which people who hate taxes didn't like."Matt Jarvisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-75770310926712610802011-07-10T15:22:19.128-05:002011-07-10T15:22:19.128-05:00>Fiscal conservatives are deficit hawks. They d...>Fiscal conservatives are deficit hawks. They don't want the federal budget to run a deficit. That's what fiscal conservative has pretty much always meant.<br /><br />I disagree. The term "fiscal conservative" has come to mean "one who supports the economic policies of the GOP" (which are often used to contrast with its social policies). Those policies masquerade as budget hawkery but are anything but. Yet because the GOP has been successful in framing the divide in this way, and because there's a conventional assumption that anything with the word "conservative" in it must fit the Republicans more than the Democrats, the media has eaten it up.<br /><br />I avoid using the term "fiscal conservative," because just uttering the phrase is tantamount to accepting the idea that to be <i>conservative</i> is to care about budgets, to be liberal is not to. That idea hasn't been relevant to US politics in over thirty years, yet the myth that it has still lingers. The true fiscal conservatives are, in reality, liberals, but the term "fiscal conservative" is now nothing more than code for people out to protect and promote the interests of the rich.Kylopodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06932528611103718373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-13098322353245712612011-07-10T14:51:15.401-05:002011-07-10T14:51:15.401-05:00I think we need to develop a new terminology, sinc...I think we need to develop a new terminology, since deficits clearly are not important in politics.<br /><br />Fiscally conscious: People who are aware of how much the government is spending and taxing, but want to evaluate the marginal costs/benefits of their budget decisions. They will be happy to run deficits if the marginal cost of cutting spending outweighs the savings (or if the marginal cost of raising taxes outweighs the savings). I'd put some Dems in this category.<br /><br />Fiscally illiterate: People who think deficits are more important than they really are, so they pursue balanced budget goals without really considering the consequences or impact of their decisions. Obama, and maybe Boehner, go here.<br /><br />Fiscally unprincipled: People who will change their views on the deficit, depending on which position best supports their ideological beliefs. These people may believe in growing deficits to help push forward one belief (cutting taxes), but then recommend reducing the deficit to push forward a second belief (cutting spending). Most Republicans.sanchkhttp://sanchitkumarblog.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com