So I was listening to Rush Limbaugh today and a caller called in and said he overheard someone calling themselves socially liberal and fiscally conservative. The caller said he didn't think it was possible for those things to go together, and Limbaugh asked him to explain. The caller said that if you're socially liberal that means you want the government to take care of you and regulate everything, and that means programs which cost a lot of money.

Limbaugh said that it was a euphamism for being pro-choice. Then he went on to say that people who call themselves that are confused, and that they can't really explain what it means. So I thought I'd correct him.

I consider my political views to essentially be socially liberal and fiscally conservative, and those concepts gel quite nicely.

By socially liberal I mean that I am in favor of less regulation, less government intervention in people's lives, less judgement about various lifestyles, and more personal freedom and responsibility. I'm also pro-choice, reluctantly and with restrictions, but pro-choice. I also think if adults want to enter into whatever kind of relationship they want, that's none of the government's business, be it homosexual, polygamous, whatever. I don't think it's the government's job to police my behavior or what I put in my head. Traditional conservatives are moral police, for laws restricting what kinds of relationships people can be in. They're for shit like the V-chip. A good recent example is a new rider to a law that Bush will probably sign next week that bans on-line poker (which is totally fucking hypocritical when so many states have lotteries). So I want to be able to buy a beer on Sunday morning, play on-line poker, watch/read whatever the hell I want, and fuck whoever I want (as long as all of that involves consenting adults). That's what social liberalism means to me.

Fiscal conservativism means the government is as small as it needs to be to get the job done. I'm for bare minimum assistance from the government, if at all. The government shouldn't exist as a teat for a significant portion of the population to suckle on. I agree with a minimal safety net, but that's it. I don't believe in farm subsidies or any of the dozens of other fat-ass pork policies Bush has signed into law since he's been President.

So to summarize, being socially liberal means I want to government to stay the fuck out of my lifestyle choices and being fiscally conservative means I don't expect the government to pay me money when I make bad choices.

That clear enough?