Reporting What's at Stake in American Fiscal Policy: Better Late than Never!
In 1980 the Republican Party shifted. It had been the party of budget balance that sought to keep spending low so that the government could live within its means. It turned into the party of deficits that sought tax cuts at every opportunity with no thought whatsoever to whether the result would produce a government that lived within its means. Democrats, in response, shifted a bit toward fiscal responsibility, and became the party that sought to make sure that the government lived within its means but also had the means to live. Thus since 1980 the only way to vote for a sane, conservative budget policy was to vote for the liberal party.
Thirty years later Clive Crook wakes up to this fact, and says that all real fiscal conservatives should vote Democratic:
Divided Government: the crucial issue for the next few years is fiscal control. The US is going to need higher taxes (as Jonathan himself has argued). I think the Democrats are more likely to raise taxes if they retain their Congressional majorities than if they have to share power with Republicans. These days, I think, a fiscal conservative leans liberal...
