A Brief History of Conservatism

Chapter 78: Fiscal Conservatism

• The Entire Reagan/Bush I Era: Deficits? Wheeeeeee! Who gives a shit about deficits? We won! Reaganomics rool! Tax cuts rool! It's morning in Murrica!


• The day Clinton was inaugurated: Deficits? Holy Mother of God! In the middle of the night while no one was looking a horde of mooching welfare queens snuck in here and nearly destroyed Murrica with deficits! Everyone knows deficits are worse than Hitler! We need to cut everything -- welfare, Medicaid, Social Security, school lunches, everything! -- in the next 60 seconds or we're all dooooomed!

... On the five-hour trip back to Washington, Greenspan tried to assess what he had observed. Clinton was what Greenspan termed an "intellectual pragmatist." The term also applied to Greenspan himself. Clinton's campaign promises included tax increases on the wealthy, a violation of Republican orthodoxy. But increasing taxes reduced the federal deficit -- and those deficits, Greenspan thought, were such a threat to the future of the economy that it might just be worth it to support Clinton's proposal.




One of the paradoxes, Greenspan realized, was that by running up the federal budget deficits, Reagan had effectively borrowed from the period that was now going to be the Clinton era. Clinton would have to pay it back by paying down the deficit in some way. The irony was that Clinton probably wouldn't have been elected if Reagan hadn't created the deficits. ...   

-- Bob Woodward, "Behind the Boom"



• The Entire Bush II Era: Holy Mother of God, where did all of these terrible budget surpluses come from?!? Jesus, we need to get rid of them immediately. Surpluses are worse than Hitler! Can you believe those CRAZY Libtards are actually worried about deficits? Wheeee! Who gives a shit about deficits? We won!

"You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the mid-term elections, this is our due."

 -- Richard Bruce Cheney 

LONG AGO, the Republican party was nicknamed the Stupid Party, and at times Republicans have done their best to live up to the label. But after the past week, it is perhaps time to acknowledge that when it comes to brainless, self-destructive behavior, the Democratic party has achieved a level of excellence that will be unsurpassed in our lifetime. 

Last week the Congressional Budget Office came out with a budget forecast. The report immediately got submerged in a chatterstorm about whether Congress or the White House would dip into something called the Social Security trust fund, but the essential facts are these: The CBO economists estimated that the federal government will run a surplus of about $150 billion in 2001. That’s a lower surplus than the CBO estimated a few months ago, before the economic slowdown, the Bush tax cut, and the recent congressional spending splurge. But even in these adverse circumstances, the surplus is still projected to grow to about $200 billion a year in 2004 and close to $300 billion a year by 2006.

The Democratic party proceeded to work itself up into a collective aneurysm. Dick Gephardt—who, when given the chance to play the demagogue, never goes halfway—said that the United States now faces "an alarming fiscal crisis." Democratic national chairman Terry McAuliffe said on Face the Nation that it had taken Bill Clinton eight years to build up the surplus, but Bush was able to "blow it in eight months." Other Democrats rose up en masse to declare that the Bush administration was going to bankrupt Social Security/the federal government/western civilization because the administration was going to have to "raid the Social Security trust fund." 

-- David Brooks, 2001



• The day Obama was inaugurated: Deficits! OhMyGodOhMyGodOhMyGod! Deficits! In the middle of the night while no one was looking a horde* of mooching welfare queens and their Kenyan Usurper messiah snuck in the back door and nearly destroyed Murrica with deficits! Everyone knows deficits are are worse than nine Hitlers! We need to cut everything -- welfare, Medicaid, Social Security, school lunches, everything! -- in the next 60 seconds or we're all dooooomed!

Not saying that deficits aren't a problem.

Am saying that Conservatives who have been both deafeningly silent and volubly "OMG!  we're dooooomed!" on this issue depending on which Party occupies the White House need to be sealed in an oil drum and stored in a tool shed for the next 20 years.


*Thanks for the catch :-)