In short, the philosophy against tax hikes and progressive tax policies have centered on the fundamental role of government. Conservatives have consistently argued that both fuel redistributionism, a top-down process that necessarily requires bigger government, and which produces both economic dysfunction and injury to personal property and liberty.

Unfortunately for conservatives, many voters see no positive impact in their own lives and communities from the pursuit of the Republican small-government philosophy. In large part, this is because voting for Republicans has not produced a noticeably smaller government ever. One could argue that it has at times restrained the growth of government, but that argument has much in common with the Democratic argument that reducing Medicaid spending increases over current projections in its growth amounts to massive Medicaid cuts. Both ignore that the real trend line over time increases rather than decreases.