Fiscal Responsibility Does Not Equal Fiscal Conservatism

Much has been made about the need for fiscal conservatism to come back to Washington, but why then does the Modern Whig Party say "fiscal responsibility" rather than "fiscal conservatism"? One of the main concepts of the Modern Whig Party is common sense solutions. The solution should be derived from the problem itself, not based upon a preconceived notion of ideology. That is where fiscal conservatism becomes a real issue. Throughout the reign of the Republicans in the past decade, President Bush and the leaders in Washington touted, professed fiscal conservatism. It was their mainstay, their platform. But, we know it didn't work, and in fact, had the opposite effect. Deficits under the Republican were out of control and the government expanded in a manner unseen until President Obama took the reigns. Why?

Some would say corruption, greed, power. Yes, those cannot be ruled out. But, the larger issue is that the "theory of fiscal conservation" is just that, a theory. Reduce government spending, reduce the size of government. Great notions, but without more, it often leads to either expansion of government or inadequately funded mandates. How many times in the past 20 years or so did the federal government send mandates to the states, yet under the guise of fiscal conservation, did not fund the mandates? The congress people in Washington can tout their conservative principles for re-relection, yet, have failed to provide a real, common sense solution. They have merely succeeded in hiding the ball, shifting the spending from the federal government to the states. Now that states are broke, federal mandates are requiring the federal government to step in and fund the states, thus, leading to a massive expansion of government.

The best solution is Fiscal Responsibility. It is not about bigger government, smaller government. But rather, Fiscal Responsibility is about the Right Size of Government. It begins with the manner in which the problem is solved (discussed in another post below) and ends with finding the right, non-ideological biased solution to achieve the results. Fiscal Responsibility is about looking at the solution without preconceived biases, finding the common sense solution, and setting forth the right size of government intervention (if any) to meet the needs.

Fiscal Conservatism is an idea. Fiscal Responsibility is a solution.