There's some truth to this, yet Social Security is popular.
I think the large majority of people are "fiscally liberal" if it translates to "spending more money on programs that primarily benefit worthy and hardworking people like me." They dislike it if it translates to "spending more money on programs that primarily benefit those unwort…
There's some truth to this, yet Social Security is popular.
I think the large majority of people are "fiscally liberal" if it translates to "spending more money on programs that primarily benefit worthy and hardworking people like me." They dislike it if it translates to "spending more money on programs that primarily benefit those unworthy and undeserving moochers, scammers, and sundry n'er-do-wells over there." It's only a subset of conservative/libertarian elites that have a principled objection to fiscal liberalism under all circumstances.
The reason fiscal liberalism loses as an idea among non-elite conservatives is that they're mostly thinking about the "welfare queens" and not Social Security and Medicare, or about, say, the idea of more subsidies for middle-class children.
There's some truth to this, yet Social Security is popular.
I think the large majority of people are "fiscally liberal" if it translates to "spending more money on programs that primarily benefit worthy and hardworking people like me." They dislike it if it translates to "spending more money on programs that primarily benefit those unworthy and undeserving moochers, scammers, and sundry n'er-do-wells over there." It's only a subset of conservative/libertarian elites that have a principled objection to fiscal liberalism under all circumstances.
The reason fiscal liberalism loses as an idea among non-elite conservatives is that they're mostly thinking about the "welfare queens" and not Social Security and Medicare, or about, say, the idea of more subsidies for middle-class children.