It's a MYTH--Fiscal Conservative and Social Liberal

I have been attempting to write for many years, mostly with limited background and education.  Some how it seemed important to be able to express myself in writing. This piece has taken a great deal of time, perhaps the biggest effort to "go against the grain" to express an opposite view of the common understanding.

Recently a friend  wrote in her blog, Restore Reason, a piece with regards to the common and standard cop-out, I am fiscally conservative and socially liberal. 

Warning Progressives, there is no such thing.  You can't separate fiscal issues from social issues.  They are deeply intertwined. One affects the other, economic issues are social issues.

MY VIEW:
Conservative fiscal policies can and do have enormous social consequences.  If fiscal conservatism means low taxes, small government, reduced regulations and a free market with globalization of business and industry then it leads to human abuses.  That is a social problem.  Make no mistake the people living under the harshest conditions have not had fiscal policies ease their social burden.

If you are poor living in poverty, chances are your children are going to be poor also.  Being poor makes it harder to get an education or job training that would lead to higher-paying employment. Where in "fiscal conservative" does it appear a support system to provide boots and the bootstraps for the poor to pull themselves up from poverty.

<On the side, in my opinion, one of the most important roles in a child's education is that of the parent, parents or responsible guardian, the state or other to nurture and encourage the child's education.  "The first in the family to be a high school/college graduate.">                    
  
Do we really believe the poor can be expected to rely  entirely on one's efforts and resources?  Think again, fiscal conservative means slashing safety nets, services for the poor, lowering taxes for the rich, cutting rules and regulations for businesses, destroying collective bargaining by wiping out unions and employee protections such as health and safety rules on the job.

Is fiscal conservatism an inescapable trap leading to frustrations. domestic violence, alcoholism, drug use or other crimes of desperation?   Does social liberal mean "live and let live",  don't look in bedroom windows, ignore harassment of people of color, racist or homophobic actions taken by authorities, breaking down of policing?

Another aspect of forces behind fiscal conservatism is to keep the status quo, oppose changes. Voter suppression is real and the massive efforts nationwide to block voting, limiting polling access, limiting voting hours, early voting, etc.  

New requirements such as voter IDs to register or to cast ballots are designed not to prevent rare voter fraud but the continued effort to keep power out of the hands of the young temporarily away from home at school or transient, possibly away in military service or church service.  Many other folks lack the required IDs, but the whole idea is to limit open and convenient voting rights.

The WORST tactic of the fiscal conservative is placing financial hardship on people who can 
least afford the burden.  Regressive sales taxes and fees, while of course mouthing the old conservative song and dance.  Low taxes good, high taxes bad especially on incomes and capital gains.

Then comes police tactics.  Using the police to enhance local treasuries through the disproportionately ticketing people of color, blacks and browns.  Fines and fees, the people with the fat checkbooks think nothing of it, but the extra financial burden is felt by the poor. What you can't pick up with those regressive sales taxes you can pick up with fines and fees.

This additional penalty for being poor is only matched by jail and prison policies.  Can't pay the fine or get up the bail the fiscally conservatives are in the conspiracy of privatized prisons.  Prisons run by people who have no interest in reducing incarceration rates.  High recidivism rates, longer prison sentences play right into the pocketbooks of the private prison corporations.

The fiscal conservative is happy.  We got government out of the prison business so smaller government, and running a necessary government function run as a business.  The cry of the fiscal conservatives, run government like a business.  

Another devastating joke voiced by the fiscal conservatives, deregulation.    Get the government out of the way of commercial enterprise.  Yes, just like we did for the banking and financial services industry.  Where did that get us?  

We have to end government spending, especially those ineffective and wasteful government welfare programs.   Get those people to pull themselves up by their "Boot straps" we have built up generations of government depend people!  

Wait, Progressives when did we ever say we favored ineffective and wasteful government spending?  Which social liberal declared we wanted to pour government resources down a rat hole? Social liberals, don't plead guilty and let the fiscal conservatives put that on us. 

Social Liberals care about oppression of anyone, equal pay for equal work, LGBT people, disabled people, African Americans, Hispanics, Irish, well all people of color, and "Mr GOP Presidential Candidate" you need to do more than go to same-sex weddings and listen to hip-hop music to be a social liberal.

Fiscally Conservative is a bit more than just economic policies.  Social Liberal is more than live and let live.  In my thinking they are not two separate values, two peas in a pod.  One is not brown and the other green, they are in the same pod and they are both green.