Republicans kill the deficit and ramp up spending, often diverting federal dollars to pet conservative causes. Then when they bust the economy and a Democrat is elected to the presidency, they pretend to be fiscal hawks and complain about runaway spending.
Most recently, they complained about spending under President Barack Obama, who unfortunately spent way too much time working out how initiatives like the stimulus and health care reform were “fiscally responsible.”
He has been followed by Trump, who doesn’t care about fiscal responsibility and is enabled by Republicans who don’t care either.
Democrats should stop feeding this cycle. Their ideas for social programs are immensely popular. Most voters simply don’t care about deficits. It is only the concern of media elites and fake concern by Republicans when they are out of power.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez nailed this stupidity succinctly in a tweet, easily summarizing the issue at hand: “New Rule: anyone that was cool with the GOP inventing $2 trillion out of thin air for freebies for people with yachts that have tiny yachts inside doesn’t get to demand how we pay for people who need chemotherapy treatments.”
It is that simple. Advocate for a robust safety net, if concerns are raised about the cost it is simple to point out that the fabulously wealthy recently got a massive tax break that can be rescinded to care for millions of people.
Everything else about fiscal concerns is meaningless background noise. It simply doesn’t matter and should be summarily dismissed as silly and without merit.
One of the first political bloggers in the world, Oliver Willis has operated OliverWillis.com since 2000. Contributor at Media Matters for America and The American Independent. Follow on Twitter at @owillis. Full bio.