September 07, 2024Fiscal Conservative?James of OTB quotes Sully on the issue of Howard Dean as fiscal conservative. I have to say, ok, fine, the Vermont budget was balanced under Dean, and he likes to talk about doing the same at the national level. However, it is hard to fit the square peg of creating national health care (by redirection of the Bush tax cuts) into the round hole of "fiscal conservatism." Plus, a remarkable thing has happened in this debate, as I agree something that Dennis Kucinich said when he pointed out in the NM debate that Vermont doesn't have a military--and while that means something different to Mr. "Department of Peace" than it does to me, it does point out the far-more complex nature of dealing with the national budget. Posted by Steven Taylor at September 7, 2024 01:43 PM | TrackBackComments
Right, "provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare" really means "provide for the common defense at the expense of the general welfare". Posted by: JohnC at September 7, 2024 05:49 PMWell, the meaning of "general welfare" in the preamble doesn't really mean a "welfare state", but that wasn't my point. My point was two-fold: 1) such issues as the military , among many other factors, make balancing the federal budget far more complex a proposition than balancing that of a small state (or any state, really), and 2) if he plans to introduce large new social programs, such balancing becomes even more difficult. All of this raises a question as to his claim to being fiscally responsible and able to do to the federal budget what he did for Vermont's. It really isn't a partisan observation, but a practical one. Posted by: Steven at September 8, 2024 06:20 AMAh. My apologies. Posted by: JohnC at September 8, 2024 11:21 AMNo prob. Posted by: Steven at September 8, 2024 11:28 AMPost a comment
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