December 6, 2006

Conservatism

Froma Harrop Gets Fiscal Conservatism Right

Carroll Andrew Morse

Without enough people noticing, liberals have mostly succeeded in redefining the term fiscal conservatism from its original meaning of "we must be extremely cautious about spending public funds" to something along the lines of "we must raise taxes high enough to pay for unlimited government spending". Froma Harrop deserves credit for not falling for the switch. In today's Projo, Ms. Harrop reminds people that a real fiscal conservatism begins with controlling the spending side of the equation...

Anger over Washington's spending orgy was especially strong around Denver, Philadelphia and other formerly Republican suburbs. They went blue in the last election, but their voters haven't signed on any dotted lines with the Democratic Party. If Republicans run Schwarzneggerian candidates who promise both stem-cell research and spending discipline, they could win those districts back.
Last week, we saw Ms. Harrop embracing free market principles for half of a column; this week she is touting controlling spending as half of a program for Republican success. Can an entire column on the sensibility of free markets and smaller government be far behind!?

3:05 PM
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>>Without enough people noticing, liberals have mostly succeeded in redefining the term fiscal conservatism from its original meaning of "we must be extremely cautious about spending public funds" to something along the lines of "we must raise taxes high enough to pay for unlimited government spending".

Was that last one a direct quote from Lincoln Chafee?

Posted by: Tom W at December 6, 2006 4:09 PM

She's probably right, but to conservatives around here, "Schwarznegger" may be nearly as dirty a word as "Chafee." Objecting to fiscal conservativism when there's a tiny dollop of social liberalism attached will only keep the Democrats in power longer.

Posted by: Rhody at December 6, 2006 4:14 PM

You lost me Rhody. Who's objecting to fiscal conservatism?

Posted by: Andrew at December 6, 2006 4:43 PM

Andrew, I see Rhody is making assumptions. He's assuming that social conservatives won't embrace fiscal conservatism if promoted by someone who may be socially liberal. Us idealogues can't make the compromise, dontcha see...

Of course, in addition, the difference between Chafee and most others (a la Ahnold) to whom Rhody refers is that Chafee was both socially liberal and only tacitly fiscally conservative with his Paygo mindset. IE; always have to pay for spending with tax increases, which is a mistake in emphasis, as explained by Harrop.

Posted by: Marc Comtois at December 6, 2006 7:26 PM