Quote:
Originally Posted by Cowboy89
'Fiscal conservatism' is a term that is not universally defined and it typically gets bent to fit convinently with the ideology of the person using the term.
Some believe 'fiscal conservatism' is only about aligning government revenue with operating and capital expenses and the process of budgeting in prudent ways. They leave out of their definition considerations of the size and scope of government in the economy and the extent of services the government provides and how the level of taxation effects the overall economy. The inherent vice of this view is that costs typically are not kept that well in check because on the margin it fits this ideology better to just go into red ink or increase taxes/user fees to meet their growing expenses.
On the other side of the coin, Wildrose and other right wing party supporters consider the term to mean more than the inherant position of government finances in balanced terms. They view 'fiscal conservatism' as spending the least amount of taxpayers money so that they can keep taxation and the role of government to a minumum. The focus is exclusively on spending the least so they can tax the least. The inherent vice of this viewpoint is that in pursuit of reducing the tax burden they cut both expenses and taxes too much to keep the budget balanced and it fits the ideology better to on the margin go into the red ink or hack away at what most deem essential services than demand more money from the taxpayers.
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Fair enough, some good points. The initial point kinda goes with the theme of what I've been saying here and other threads though. A lot of these terms are moving targets. Right left, conservative liberal, etc. They mean different things in different areas, cultures, periods of time, and even between different party leaders of the same party, as we are talking about here. Yet a lot of the voters get focused on the scale and what the name of the party (or supposed position of the party) would mean on that static scale, rather than actually looking at the platforms or track records. Also, because of that incorrect viewpoint, fiscal conservatism will generally get placed, correctly or incorrectly, with the party that appears most conservative (or traditional might be a better word, since I am saying conservative can mean different things) at the time. Which I think you agree with, if I'm reading your post correctly.