I always put fiscal conservatism as a priority over social conservatism because right I see fiscal discipline as a much larger problem than social conservatism. The other reason is because I often see people like Mike Huckabee charm the general morons, I mean masses, into thinking that they are conservative by virtue of their pro-life stances and high moral values. I note that conservatism is more than just cutting taxes and nominating pro-life judges to the bench.
Most conservatives recognized this, although a few are duped (like Laura Ingraham and the others who endorsed that corn-panderer Mitt Romney). But sometimes fiscal conservatism itself is distorted beyond recognition and becomes more about saving money than it does about limited government and freedom.
The less government in your lives, the freer you are. Government has the uncanny position of exerting force the for the greater good, but often times, that force can easily be used for the greater evil. Inevitably, it always ends up this way.
Pseudo-fiscal conservatism is where you use the excuse of saving money in order to expand the scope of government. Many conservatives are often duped by this notion and will forget about their true principles in the process, which is why I am more libertarian minded and do not trust authority, save the only perfect authority.
The most annoying example of this is the advocates of tax cuts because it will increase government tax revenues. Now, I am not arguing against this, because it was clearly and accurately demonstrated under the Bush administration. When taxes were cut, the revenues came up as the economy picked up. After all, taxes are imposed the wealth of a society and when you managed to increase the wealth of a collective group, you increase your tax revenues.
But to justify tax cuts in such a manner is like saying you watch (among other things) to rape porn so you do not have to rape anyone (sorry about being so graphic there). The idea behind being fiscally conservative is not that you want to increase tax revenues, but decrease the size and scope of government. John McCain did not support tax cuts because he wanted the government to cut spending first. While I think he may have been using that logic as an excuse not to vote for tax cuts, it is an accurate reason to do so. I see no signs of government letting up on the spending side of things and if more conservative pundits had pushed for it during the Bush years, we may not have had a 12+ Trillion dollar debt.
Other pseudo-fiscal conservative maneuver is when a government official will justify a restriction of freedom or expansion of government power in order to justify a cost-cutting measure. The best example is the ban on certain foods and substances because they are harmful to your health. This is justified because with those items out of the picture, the government can save money on the health care costs they cover. Look for more of that being wildly supported by conservatives and liberals alike if the freedom-smashing health care plan passes in Congress.
The whole point of conservatism was supposed to be about the expansion of freedom through limiting government’s size and scope. When you do the opposite, but justify it through a fiscally conservative approach, you are nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And let me tell you, there are lot of stupid conservative sheep out there who are more than willing to buy your nonsense.
Politicians know this and so they will seek for ways to justify their policies and pander to their base in the process. That is why nothing really ever gets resolved with abortion. Despite the fact that most Americans out there oppose abortion except in the absolute rarest of cases (no, not when a college girl gets knocked up), pro-life politicians almost never do anything about it. They would rather have the demon Moloch run free and point to him and say, “if you vote for me, I will make him go away.” Yet, he is still out there and millions of babies are sacrificed to him every year.
The same is true of pseudo-fiscal conservatives who are nothing more than Statists who seek to justify their freedom-smashing policies by tricking us into thinking such things save us money. From Daylight Savings Time to banning trans-fat, these scumbags will stop at nothing to imposing their will on us and will us every trick they can come up with.
Do not be fooled by them.