Steve King's economic menace
In advance of his Conservative Principles Conference this weekend featuring 2012 GOP presidential candidates, Representative Steve King of Iowa offers this nugget of wisdom:
If we get the culture right, the economy will be right eventually.
Okay, that's ludicrous, but King isn't done:
While America’s staggering job loss, spending and debt are crucial components of any candidate’s platform, it does not mean that their position on family issues and freedom are inconsequential — or even separate. In fact, social moderation has certainly contributed to the $14 trillion in national debt.
Uh, does anybody outside of Steve King's ideological cul de sac really believe that the recession and financial crisis were caused by a sudden cultural decline? And if "social moderation" is a driver of the budget deficit, why is it that by the end of the Clinton presidency, we were running a budget surplus, yet under the Bush presidency, we piled on mountains of debt?
Our current budget deficit is driven almost exclusively by a combination of the Bush tax cuts, weak GDP growth, increased war spending, and short-term spending measures. Social moderation doesn't have anything to do with it, and it's just insane to argue otherwise. And America did not experience a cultural recession, it experienced an economic recession.
Yet Steve King seriously makes the case that the GOP's jobs plan should be rooted in restoring traditional cultural values, whatever that means. Apparently, the repeal of DADT and the 'threat' of marriage equality are jobs-killers too.
There was a time when a guy like King would have been on the fringes of the GOP, but that time is long gone. Instead of keeping him at arm's length, the GOP's 2012 presidential hopefuls will be kissing his ring this weekend at his conservative cattle call, echoing his ludicrous view that the key to economic growth is a conservative cultural revival.