In Case You Missed This... 'People Who Say They’re ‘Fiscally Conservative But Socially Liberal’...

[MADem]

1. I think it depends on what you're being "fiscally conservative" about.

The article is well-meaning but simplistic. The illustration, though, is priceless--who doesn't want to mock that mustachioed blowhard roundly?

For example, I applaud fiscal conservativism when it comes to the military-industrial-Congressional complex. I don't think we need a zillion new weapons systems, for example. I think we should limit the number of new ones coming on line, and we need to de-couple Congress from the influence of lobbyists in this regard. Maybe we could do with a few less of this or that--we really have an embarrassment of weaponry, already. I'd like to hire a few AUDITORS to try to find out where the trillions the Pentagon has sucked up down the years went. I'd like those auditors to put some fiscal discipline into the mix, so the Service Chiefs and Secretaries are forced to balance their books at the end of the year--not the bullshit, half-assed accounting they do--an actual accounting so we know just what we have and where it is.

I think we could stand to be fiscally liberal when it comes to funding schools, health care, elder services, community outreach like after school programs, street lights, pothole repair, job retraining, community policing and small business assistance, and our national parks. For starters. But I think there should be an accounting of the money spent. Americans deserve to know how their country is supporting their goals, after all.

There's nothing wrong with watching those dimes, quarters and dollars. Wasting money on bullshit that could be spent on schoolbooks is what sucks.

The trick is, when you spend the money, to spend it on things that benefit the greater community.