the best way to hide something is to leave it out in the open. It’s counter-intuitive but true, again and again.
so it is that “fiscal conservatism” is an acceptable way of saying “liberalism is shit”. conservatives have supported running deficits when it suits their needs. but when it suits the needs of a welfare state, it’s a sin.
in our protestant culture, you need not prove that deficit spending is immoral. and in our media-driven politics, just repeating the claim that it is, over and over again, changes the language everyone uses until even your opponents concede to your unproven argument by using labels like “fiscal conservative.” as if that moniker actually meant something, as if it was a clear and transparent term rather than subterfuge for surrender.
Or, in the words of the late Claude Bessy: there is no such thing as New Wave.