General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFiscal Conservative, social Liberal
That's how I always described myself.
Seeing it in action in our highest parts of Government has changed my mind.
I'm Liberal through & through now not because it affects me, but because it affects my fellow Americans.
There are safety nets for a reason.
My apologies for not figuring this out earlier in life.
gcomeau
(5,764 posts)...in the sense those terms were defined maybe, oh, 50 years ago... which had nothing in particular to do with the Republican Party.
It used to just mean, plain and simply, that you were responsible with your budgeting. Don't run up unnecessary debts. That kind of thing. Since Reagan it suddenly started meaning "Taxes evil! Spending by government evil!"
William769
(55,148 posts)One_Life_To_Give
(6,036 posts)There is a difference between being cautious with what one spends and being a hoarder.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Tommy_Carcetti
(43,219 posts)To me, "Fiscally Responsible" means that government should be supported with sufficient revenue so not to accumulate mass deficits.
But "Fiscally Conservative" to me screams resistant to government programs, government support, having to pay one's fair share in taxes, opposing government regulation of business, etc.
I definitely consider myself Fiscally Responsible. But I'm far, far, far from Fiscally Conservative.
William769
(55,148 posts)I see I chose my rods poorly.
PETRUS
(3,678 posts)A quote from Joe Firestone of neweconomicperspectives.org will do:
We have a crisis of unemployment and poverty NOW.
As Dean Baker put it in an op-ed this morning:
This lost demand gave us large deficits because it led to plunging tax collections and more spending on programs like unemployment insurance. We deliberately raised deficits by roughly $300 billion annually in 2009 and 2010 with the stimulus package.
These deficits were supporting the economy, making up for the loss of private sector demand. They took the deficit from a very modest 1.2 percent of GDP in 2007 to a peak of more than 9 percent of GDP in 2009.
Unfortunately, rather than deal with the reality that we need deficits to sustain demand in a context where the private sector will not do it the politicians in Washington have gotten hysterical. This is like complaining about our use of water when the school is on fire with the kids still inside."
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)the positives of both social liberalism and fiscal conservation.