Responsible Economic Policy: An Ideological Comparison

The epithet "tax-and-spend liberal" is wielded by conservatives as a killing stroke against their liberal opponents. The fact that this term has any effect on voters is more a testament to the political right's adeptness at manipulating language than it is an accurate assessment of left-wing economic policy. "Tax-and-spend", as used by the right wing, implies that taxation will be increased automatically, as a matter of course. Since nobody likes taxes, the association of liberals to taxation has been a powerful rhetorical tool for the conservatives. Those who buy into the notion of "tax-and-spend" as oppressive economic policy and support a policy of tax cuts are short-sighted, not to mention ignoring the obvious. "Tax-and-spend" is by far the more responsible economic policy to follow. "Tax-and-spend" means that any spending that occurs will have a source of funding. The alternative is to borrow the money and create debt. That would make the current U.S. Administration "Credit Card Conservatives", and the "credit card" they're using is "American Taxpayer Express." As far as a sound economic policy goes, Independent Americans prefer "pay-as-you-go" to perpetual snowballing debt, and the dependent, vulnerable mindset of indebtedness.