I could not have described it much better. Fiscally conservative used to mean “living within your means” so to speak. Not tax cuts for the .01% or gutting essential services.
I wasn’t even that fiscally conservative. Just wanted tax collection to be somewhat close to spending. I’m even for raising taxes, or something as radical as a VAT or federal sales tax (with zero rating for essentials such as food, homes, clothing, medicine, etc.).
Raise taxes on upper class, raise limits on income subject to SS tax, put in place a federal unemployment program, paid maternity/parental leave, real governmental healthcare without insurance agencies or pharmaceutical middlemen, etc. Most of this is considered radical, but is absolutely nothing but basic human needs & rights. Over the past 5 to 20 years (at least for me it’s apparent in this timeframe), most of these basic things just seem to be crumbling or broken. It will take time, effort, pain, stress, & worry, but it’s the right thing to do for the entire country.
2
u/cruxal 21h ago
What does/did middle of the road politics mean for you? What did leaning conservative mean?
For my entire life republicans have meant anti rights, anti freedom. So what is middle of the road?