Why are modern conservatives not fiscally conservative?

Question

I thought that was the whole reason to vote republican. Bush loves pork so much his arteries are clogged.

Answer 1

Bush's form of conservatism is known as "compassionate conservatism." When he was first elected, the general platform was to be traditional in social issues, and generous in fiscal issues. Tax cuts and social spending are the marks of compassionate conservatism. 9/11 changed all that. With the idea of terrorism in everybody's mind, especially the idealist Bush's mind, security and defense became priorities. In addition, with his ear turned to Karl Rove, Bush was controlled by the whims of the "neoconservatives," a block of politicians, not even necessarily Republican who believed in the democratization of the Middle East. Whether inspired by the idea of fully free market oil, or just plain crazy idealism, they considered Israel blameless and wished the remainder of the Middle East was as American.
It was their idea to use terrorism as an excuse to invade Iraq.

With the want for a large defense budget and the want to be "compassionate," spending is pretty out of control.

Also consider, whenever a party controls the two legislative bodies, they will try to preserve it, and to do that, compromises must be made. Everyone needs to be happy. Democrats are helpless to stop them. If they take back both bodies in November, expect Bush to start exercising his power of veto often.

Answer 2

It's not a Conservative / Liberal thing. All politicians are addicted to pork, and there are various degrees of pork...some good, some bad. Historically, whichever party in the majority gets the most pork. It's no different than the liberals getting more pork and contributions and bribes when they were in control and Clinton in office.
The so-called Culture of Corruption is bipartisan.

Answer 3

First of all, I would not call them modern conservatives. Their theories are based on old assumptions that the US is God's country and nationalism has the duty to rule. These neo-cons are basically welfare capitalists and promoters of the richest segments of society. They invent huge government programs like No Child Left Behind in a similar manner that Bush One created the slogan A Thousand Points of Light.
It is not about Pork. It is about a President who has a blank check to buy whatever he wants in order to achieve his goals. These people want to decide for you what civilization will be like according to their master plan.

Answer 4

I still don't see how the GOP became the conservative party. Up until the 1960's it was the party of new ideas and as stated in "The Conservative Tradition in American Thought" it was easy to see that the Democratic party was the conservative one.

Answer 5

Because they are extremely greedy. Look at the way they are pushing for the repeal of the "Paris Hilton Tax". The conservatives call it the death tax, but it will only pertain to less than one percent of the population, while the conservatives look to cut money from the Veterans Administration, etc. Conservativeism=Greed today.

Answer 6

many conservatives are very upset over this... this is probably the most damaging issue in the Republican party right now and I would wager it's much more damaging than anything "dividing" in the Democratic party...

Answer 7

Todays republicans have nothing to do with classic conservatism or republicanism -- they're basically not like anything that's existed before. Basically, they're just ASSHOLES trying to make their redneck buddies rich as they try to turn America into a Theocracy! Thank you red states!

Answer 8

They aren't conservatives at all- now dubbed "neo-cons"- these people couldn't be much more radical or much less conservative. Real conservatives, like Pat Buchanan, are still respectable.

Answer 9

We want to pi** all you liberals off!!

Answer 10

You just not nice.