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MISS AMERICA COMPASSION. Jennifer Roback Morse's claim that voting for Rick Santorum -- conceivably the least libertarian major national elected official in the country -- is the only responsible choice for libertarians to make is, above all else, pure comedy gold. But her attempt to claim the libertarian mantle for Santorum based on his support for tax cuts and ... er, tax cuts actually provides a useful illustration of why his efforts to build a genuine "compassionate conservatism" are a non-starter. I don't say this because I think that Santorum's desire to help the poor is insincere -- and, certainly, better some concern for the poor than a Catholic conservatism that begins and ends with a desire to criminalize abortion and deny equal rights to gay people. The real problem is that it's fundamentally incoherent to vote to increase funding for the poor -- especially the non-American poor -- while simultaneously voting to gut government revenues, since during periods of fiscal shortfall programs for the poor and foreign aid -- which lack powerful domestic constituencies -- are almost inevitably first up to the chopping block. This is the fundamental problem with what Mark Schmitt calls "Miss America Conservatism." As Schmitt wrote about E.J. Dionne's praise for moderate Republicans who voted to stop cuts to Medicaid, but also voted for Bush's massive upper class tax cuts:
I think he's giving Coleman and Smith credit they absolutely don't deserve here. Yes, they voted against Medicaid cuts, but they also -- along with Specter and DeWine -- voted to continue the practice of passing tax cuts without offsetting spending cuts. These tax cuts will result in spending cuts some day, and the cuts will be massive. A vote for tax cuts is a vote for Medicaid cuts, and Medicare cuts, and education cuts, and environment cuts. No politician should be allowed to pretend otherwise.Santorum, at least, doesn't confine his compassion to a narrow issue where he has a personal stake. But to favor programs to help the poor while also voting not to provide government with the revenues to make them politically viable is simply an empty gesture.
--Scott Lemieux
