Conservatives and Republicans love to say they are fiscally responsible. At the same time they have a President like Bush, who they have never complained about, who has spent more, borrowed more and has Nationalized more than any President ever. He cut taxes for the first time during a war[s], and that war subsequently wasted billions of dollars, destabilized the oil market and shot gas prices to record levels. Pretty much the exact opposite of the definition of fiscally responsible.
How do you act fiscally responsible? How do you pay for all this mess? You eliminate the costly wars. You collect taxes to pay for you spend, even if it means letting tax cuts for the rich expire. You stimulate the markets with infrastructure projects. You change your perception around the world in hopes of increasing exports. You bring all sides to the table to figure out the big problems. You act fiscally and you act responsibly. You do what Obama is trying to do.
But ask any conservative [and I have plenty in my own family] if they are happy with true fiscal responsibility, especially if they are a Bushie, and they will fire back with a doom and gloom talking point: Obama is going to take money from everyone and force them to pay for health care forcing mass lay-offs. They have seen the future, apparently, assumed the worst, and have predicted all the changes to tax codes and universal health care will destroy them.
Not that the last 8 years have destroyed the economy, financial markets, job growth and retirement funds. They don't see those facts, those are hard to assess blame to. Not that the credit markets have been wiped out and borrowing will be near impossible or lay-offs might be based on the economy shrinking and consumer confidence nose-diving. Nothing that can be attributed to the "spend and borrow, deregulation, free markets run the world" conservative mindset that Bush exploited. Nope, that's just life to them. Capitalism.
To them, it's the the answer, it's the solution, it's the hard work of running the system the right way that will destroy everything. Up until now things were great. And what adds to my fury is the childlike fairy tale revisionism they have, the simple "Bush was a good man, just trying to do a good job". Add any semblance of fact and their wishful thinking is destroyed.
It's remarkable how conservatives get to have it both ways. They get to trumpet how mindlessly they forgot their values and let a financial hell storm evolve under a clueless President like Bush, them complain about how someone is going to solve it, using the values they espouse, like Obama. They have Bush socialize Wall St and bail-out every big Industry that cries for money then call Obama a Marxist for trying to pay for everything.
It couldn't be any more backwards. Act fiscally responsible and the Republicans show their true colors, that they were never for responsibility when it came to running government, it was all a con.
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