{"id":3516,"date":"2009-11-30T22:43:34","date_gmt":"2009-12-01T02:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/?p=3516"},"modified":"2009-11-30T22:43:34","modified_gmt":"2009-12-01T02:43:34","slug":"on-the-lie-that-is-fiscal-conservative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2009\/11\/30\/on-the-lie-that-is-fiscal-conservative\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Lie That Is “Fiscal Conservative”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I used to bang my head against the wall every time I heard someone say “I’m a social liberal and a fiscal conservative.”\u00c2\u00a0 And then I realized I was going to need my brain for (hopefully) another 50 years.\u00c2\u00a0 But silly shit like this<\/a> is the origin of that problem.\u00c2\u00a0 There are, in reality, *very* few “fiscal conservatives” (in a literal reading of the phrase) in elected office.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, the phrase identifies those that cite spending\/deficit\/tax concerns as a reason to oppose most any social spending.\u00c2\u00a0 If you look at the records of the vast majority of these self-proclaimed “fiscal conservatives”, you’ll see that they go in – whole hog – for defense spending, farm subsidies, and tax cuts as if they’ve never encountered the idea of responsibility for balancing the books.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no inherent fiscal conservatism there.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s simply someone who has latched onto a popular phrase to dishonestly explain away his behavior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I used to bang my head against the wall every time I heard someone say “I’m a social liberal and a fiscal conservative.”\u00c2\u00a0 And then I realized I was going to need my brain for (hopefully) another 50 years.\u00c2\u00a0 But silly shit like this is the origin of that problem.\u00c2\u00a0 There are, in reality, *very* […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-society"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t