LETTER: Liberals not more responsible

To the editor:

A recent column informed me that liberals were more fiscally responsible than conservatives. Unfortunately, the column didn’t explain any further, so I’m left to my own devices to understand it.

Conservatives cut taxes and, at least with this President and Congress, increase spending. I see how that can be viewed as fiscally irresponsible. Sure, tax revenues are up, and historically have risen nearly every time taxes have been cut, but increasing spending after cutting taxes is like going on a spending spree right after deciding to cut back on your hours at work from full-time to part-time. It’s probably not the best idea.

What I don’t get is how liberals can claim to be fiscally responsible when everyone knows that they would spend even more on government programs than conservatives. I admit they probably wouldn’t be going into debt nearly as much, but that’s because they would raise taxes on all of us to cover their spending. So, taking money from other people to cover your spending spree is fiscally responsible? I don’t think so. I doubt if any college student would get away with spending more money and then calling Mom and Dad to ask for more money because they wanted to be fiscally responsible. Even more, I can’t imagine anyone saying that it is fiscally responsible to steal money from your well-to-do roommate in order to cover your overspending.

Call it “good-governance,” or some other cute label, but don’t try to convince us that liberals are any more fiscally responsible than conservatives.

Jeremy Kidd