Should liberals find a true fiscal-conservative?

[shawn703]

I was wondering if it would be a good idea for liberals to find a viable candidate of a third party (maybe Reform party?) and secretly finance them to provide another option for conservatives instead of Bush? With the increased government spending that has the fiscal-conservatives up in arms, it seems like a candidate that came in promising to cut all spending and bring the budget under control would have pretty good support, and maybe draw some votes away from Bush in the election. I'm not saying liberals would actually vote for this candidate in the election, but after the Republicans sent Buchanan to hijack the Reform party, they haven't had to worry about third parties taking away their votes. The Democrats still have to worry about the Greens however. The Republicans "claim" to be financing Dean to help Bush, and they shouldn't have any problem with Democrats financing a conservative option for the purpose of ensuring the Democrat has an easy victory in the election.

I think it's time the Democrats take a page out of the Rove playbook.

[HFishbine]

1. How about this guy?

www.deanforamerica.com

[Hep]

7. That's what I was going to say

!

[JohnKleeb]

2. you mean like a person liberal on social issues and conservative on econom

economics.
:shrug:
No offense but I am a proud tax n spend liberal :D
Just sayin, I dont hide it.

[shawn703]

11. Actually I meant conservative in both areas

Sorry to confuse - I mean an ultra-conservative guy who thinks that we should cut out all the government spending and let the government tell you what to do in your personal life. You know, someone Hannity and Limbaugh would think of as the ideal Republican. If the guy could get up there and rile up the far right-wing of their party, (which Bush is supposed to be doing, but I think a bunch of them are getting sick of the spending), Dems would actually benefit.

[Terwilliger]

3. Oh, great. How about: Should liberals find a true social-conservative?

:nuke:

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. 'Fiscal-conservative' in the balanced budget sense...

...or 'fiscal-conservative' in the no-social-spending sense?

There are folks claiming the same label sailing coming from two very different places.

[BeFree]

6. Fiscally conservative, socially liberal

Being fiscally conservative means that the budget is balanced and all debts are accounted for. What's wrong with that?

Now, someone who is fiscally conservative, but socially liberal, is pro-human being. They support budgetary items continuing the good-life of humans through social programs and the like. They would NOT support more military spending. Military spending is anti-human, fiscally liberal and socially conservative.

[denverbill]

5. Not a horrible idea, actually.

Roy Moore immediately jumps to mind.

[ShimokitaJer]

8. You're buying into the Repub characterization of liberals.

They've been screaming "tax and spend" so long that they've even convinced us that Democrats spend more then Repubs. If Bush isn't the ultimate borrow and spender, I don't know who is. Recast that "tax refund" of his as a shifting of the total tax burden from the wealthy (tax payed on dividends refunded) to the working classes (payroll taxes not refunded) and you'll see where he really stands on taxes. And in case you haven't noticed, it's the Repubs who are the major champions of porkbarrel spending.

Don't buy into the idea that a Dem can't be fiscally conservative. Why have a non-Dem fiscal conservative to split the Repub vote when you can have a Dem fiscal conservative siphon "real conservatives" away from the GOP?

[leftyandproud]

9. Libertarians...

I think we should try to peel off as many GOP votes as possible.

"If you want a true conservative, you should vote libertarian."
"Bush has grown government more than the democrats could ever dream"
etc etc etc

Get them to join the Libertarians and they are de facto votes for us.
;)

[rucky]

10. Wouldn't that take votes away from "tightwad" Dean? n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Let's Define Fiscal Conservatism

Fiscal conservatism is not anathema to the liberal philosophy.

In pure economic terms, fiscal conservatism is an approach that insists that gov't be able to pay for what it does, without deficits. That doesn't mean it's political conservatism.

A true fiscal conservative would suggest that if we need the extra $500 billion to run gov't, then we need to elevate taxes and fees until we have enough money.

It does not automatically mean cutting programs. That's not fiscal conservatism. Program cutting is using a bastardization of the term to justify already existing political intentions. It's not the money being spent, it's the programs that they don't like. That's not fiscal conservatism.

The Repubs aren't fiscal conservatives, because tax cuts are the raison d'etre. It doesn't matter whether we can afford them. They aren't interested in conserving government's fiscal position.

Now, i'm all for a regular examination of priorities and keeping spending in check by not wasting money on needless priorities. But, i consider myself a fiscal conservative, because i believe that, political consequences be damned, the gov't must do what it needs to do to have revenues match expenses.

So, the answer to your question is, it's not that hard to find a fiscally conservative liberal. I'm one, and i'm sure not the only one.
The Professor

[Terwilliger]

13. wait...I thought that's what a Rockefeller Republican was

:shrug: