To those of you in the audience that support the Republicans, I ask why? If you are… 10


To those of you in the audience that support the Republicans, I ask why? If you are primarily a social conservative, that's a separate discussion, although frankly demanding a certain type of personal behavior from people is hardly what I'd call small government.  

On the other hand, if you are a fiscal conservative, I reiterate the question, why support the Republicans. Do you favor smaller government? Since 1980, the GOP has controlled the White House for 20 out of 32 years and congress for roughly half that period. Yet, there is no empirical evidence that despite campaign claims to the contrary, that they will ever shrink government. Under Republican presidents spending has gone up and deficits have grown (primarily for the military and with tax cuts for the wealthiest among us) while median real incomes have gone down and poverty has increased. 

So under Republicans, government just spends more in ways that do not benefit the vast majority of the people. How is that an improvement?

Discuss

Will the GOP actually shrink government?
Video on msnbc.com: Up host Chris Hayes and his guests debate whether the Republican party is truly fiscally conservative, enough to shrink the size and scope of government.

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10 thoughts on “To those of you in the audience that support the Republicans, I ask why? If you are…

  • rich ruscio

    Without getting into the nuance of who ran what thru Congress, or what actually happened in YOY govt tax take, or percentage compares to GDP, that argument holds no water. Current estimates for CY or prior year are the biggest numbers. Ever.

  • rich ruscio

    Without getting into the nuance of who ran what thru Congress, or what actually happened in YOY govt tax take, or percentage compares to GDP, that argument holds no water. Current estimates for CY or prior year are the biggest numbers. Ever.

  • Tristan Cunha

    Basically when judging political parties, it's a good idea to disregard campaign promises (whether they're for more or less taxes, more or less spending, more or less government, etc.) and just focus on what actually happened under different administrations. Most people believe, and there's ample evidence to support, that politicians aren't always honest when they're running for office. But when you look at actual actions when they're in office, it's much easier to see what they actually believe in.

    So, if you want to vote for a fiscally conservative party, look at the past, and see which group of politicians have been more fiscally conservative, that should be a pretty good guide to which group will be more fiscally conservative in the future.

    If that sounds like too much work, and you'd rather just base your vote on campaign promises, well, then we know why congress is so bad, no one is doing any research.

    Here's a great tool to help do the research: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10FsM60n_ifNYzDjGnwu4peTl_7uZ0HPos-O42u0mrMk/edit?pli=1

  • Tristan Cunha

    Basically when judging political parties, it's a good idea to disregard campaign promises (whether they're for more or less taxes, more or less spending, more or less government, etc.) and just focus on what actually happened under different administrations. Most people believe, and there's ample evidence to support, that politicians aren't always honest when they're running for office. But when you look at actual actions when they're in office, it's much easier to see what they actually believe in.

    So, if you want to vote for a fiscally conservative party, look at the past, and see which group of politicians have been more fiscally conservative, that should be a pretty good guide to which group will be more fiscally conservative in the future.

    If that sounds like too much work, and you'd rather just base your vote on campaign promises, well, then we know why congress is so bad, no one is doing any research.

    Here's a great tool to help do the research: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10FsM60n_ifNYzDjGnwu4peTl_7uZ0HPos-O42u0mrMk/edit?pli=1