Maybe it's time for normal Republicans to form a third party

[sparkey]

His state has no income tax because of BUSINESS FIRST POLICIES, consequently has the most recessive tax code in the entire country and like most states routinely fails to fund its schools because the previous low tax environment must be preserved . In other words a "fiscal conservative but socially liberal" paradise!

Washington does OK but not great, it's pretty middle-of-the-road: http://freedominthe50states.org/

Ok partly it's a semantic thing. "Fiscally right-wing" does not mean anything. See I would take it to mean balanced budgets which is admirable but not really a political position, in the same way that "good schools" is not an idealogy but an aim. Some use the phrase for a bevy of economically right-wing causes like low taxes etc. Which seems like a distortion of the term.

What definition of "fiscal" are you using in which it doesn't have a lot to do with most economic issues? Fiscally conservative or right-wing doesn't have only to do with deficits, it has to do with absolute tax and spending levels, which are probably the 2 most important economic issues that a government deals with, perhaps alongside monetary and trade issues.

[sparkey]

What "fiscal conservative" conveys to me a Burkean agenda - primarily focused on the right (or lack of) of governments to wrack up large debts. Although it opposes taxes, it opposes the taxes used to dig the government out of a hole. "Fiscal policy" literally means the raising of revenue to meet the subsequent expenditure; and "conservatism" implies merely being cautious (raise contrast to moves that were "economically right-wing" but not "fiscally conservative" like the Bush tax cuts). And some people stretch the definition to an even worse extent, throwing in a whole bevy of economic (European) liberal issues in the bag as well - trade, deregulation etc.

The worse thing about fiscal conservative as a definition is it is an advertising slogan. Nobody is "fiscally liberal" as an idealogical position. That would be like saying conservatives enjoy failing schools and people dying of cancer. It's not a helpful descriptor it is a public menace, and should be swiftly wiped out.

Your definitions are weird, which is why you're coming to weird conclusions here. Fiscal = financial, and definitely doesn't have only to do with raising revenue to meet expenditure, it has to do with setting the absolute tax and spending rates. I agree that fiscal issues are a subset of economic issues, but being fiscally conservative implies wanting lower absolute tax and spending levels, not just less debt. Everybody seems to use the term that way except for you.

There may be a degree of sloganeering here in that classical liberals want to attract others to the position, and fiscal conservatism can be more appealing than, say, regulatory conservatism. But it can still be true, honest, and helpful to describe oneself as fiscally conservative, and it doesn't denigrate others like in your ridiculous "conservatives enjoy failing schools and people dying of cancer" comparison. It's not our fault that you don't embrace "fiscally liberal." Maybe that's because that position is not all that attractive.