Small-government conservatives have long made the broad case against Big Government, but have tended to stay away from the innards of Washington because they were repelled by what they considered the corrupted nature of the beast they opposed.
Fiscal conservatives interested themselves in the mechanics of the most tedious workings of government in order to understand how to control its size and manage its budget. Over time, they became known as the “green eyeshade guys” because they went over books like an actuary.
They’re annoyed with the moral disgust displayed by small-government conservatives; they find such talk hysterical and reckless. Allergic to ideology and more interested in statistics, they despise having ideology applied to their field of expertise.
The secret of Paul Ryan is that he is a blend of the two; philosophically a small-government conservative, managerially a fiscal conservative.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member