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Fiscal conservatives recognize the truth

Originally Appeared on DelMarVaNow.com

Economic & Fiscal Policy

by Marc Kilmer

OP-EDS

RE: "Grand Old Party not what it used to be," Aug. 22

In his op-ed attacking the Republican Party, Geoff Smoot made some wild claims about fiscal conservatives. Instead of labeling him "guilty of treason," as he does his opponents, let's consider a few facts.

Smoot said he voted for Barry Goldwater, but criticizes today's Republicans for being too extreme. According to him, conservatives supposedly want to eliminate the federal entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Perhaps Smoot doesn't remember, but Goldwater opposed Medicare and Medicaid, and wanted to make Social Security voluntary.

It's ridiculous to think anything being proposed by today's Republican Party or our own Rep. Andy Harris is this radical. Along with most of his Republican colleagues, Harris supported the budget plan proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan. This plan would not eliminate Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. It would, in fact, strengthen these programs by making them more fiscally sustainable.

What Harris and other conservatives recognize is that the structure of these entitlement programs poses a grave fiscal threat to our future. In 1965, federal entitlement spending consumed 2.5 percent of our gross domestic product. Today, it consumes 10 percent, and by 2050 it will consume more than 18 percent of GDP. It's likely every tax dollar paid to the federal government in 2049 will be used to fund entitlements.

The Ryan plan outlined modest reforms to these programs, including giving states more control over Medicaid and giving future (not current) Medicare recipients more control over how to spend their Medicare dollars. Radical? Hardly. If anything, the Ryan budget plan doesn't go far enough in addressing our nation's fiscal problems.

If more people had voted for Smoot's candidate in 1964, we wouldn't even have Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid today. But Goldwater lost that election, and these programs are on a path of uncontrollable growth. Harris and other fiscal conservatives are merely trying to deal with the budget mess created by politicians who promised generous entitlement programs without securing a way to pay for them.

Our budget problems are real. Federal entitlement programs must be reformed. Those who recognize this don't question the "necessity of government," as Smoot said. They are simply trying to figure out how keep the federal government from consuming an ever-increasing (and ultimately unsustainable) amount of our national wealth.