Wow! My buddy KBZ over at ZogbyBlog has unearthed a jewel in The Washington Times. In Dean's budget-balancing act left taxpayers in red Donald Lambro takes some whacks at the Governors soi-disant fiscal conservativism:
Mr. Dean, a Democrat who calls himself a "fiscal conservative," says he balanced all his state budgets by cutting spending. And allies and critics alike praise his budget-balancing record.
What the former governor doesn't say is that he raised hundreds of millions of dollars in higher taxes, including sales taxes, cigarette taxes, property taxes and corporate taxes, to balance the books while paying for his social welfare proposals.
Democrats raise spending and taxes. Republicans raise spending and cut taxes and hope the economy grows enough to bring in the tax revenue to cover the spending. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. What do you call the party of the politicians who cut spending first, let the economy settle out, then cut taxes to match the fiscal need? If you find one, please ask for me.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at August 7, 2003 12:46 PMYes, I am partisan -- but I always hold that much of Republican spending is to keep up with Democrats or to fight demagogic attacks, or to prevent their constituencies from being bought out by the Dems.
Sad to say, there is no real political viability for small-government policy today. They can't even cut the mohair subsidy.
I have to pin my hopes on supply-side growth. I'd love some tight-fistedness but I'm not hopeful.