COLUMN: Does life imitate art or is it the other way around?

My friend Lane Rees lost his job as Walton County commissioner because, believe or not, he was not sufficiently Republican, merely a Republican In Name Only (RINO).

It is difficult for me to imagine Lane being insufficiently Republican. There is a new creature stirring around — a fiscal conservative … in name only (FCINO) or “finko”.  If you talk the fiscal conservative talk but don’t walk the walk you might be a finko. I’m not sure if it is part of a Floridian’s DNA or if there is something in the water but we Floridians have historically, habitually and quite brazenly petitioned the federal government for money.  Within a few months of Florida’s statehood one of our Senators cajoled the Federal government for an Everglades drainage earmark. That’s how Floridians roll. We aim high, but relying on government pork-barrel projects is not fiscally conservative.

You can find a couple of finkos at the Bay County Chamber of Commerce where they are lobbying to keep the F-22 Raptor program at Tyndall. However, the F-22 has not flown a single sortie in the skies of Afghanistan or Iraq. Furthermore, the Air Force has no plans to use the plane in either theater. According to the conservative (not in name only) Cato Institute, “politics, not need” (i.e. pork) is why we have a plane we don’t use.

Contrary to rhetoric, being a fiscal conservative doesn’t mean you never, ever raise taxes. For instance, when Social Security was facing a financial crisis during Ronald Reagan’s first term the conservative icon hiked Social Security taxes. Being a fiscal conservative means being prudent fiscally but finkos can’t go there. Both Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush took politically unpopular stances primarily by raising taxes but coupled their tax increases with strict spending controls and reductions in the growth of entitlements. Democrats like to claim the budget surplus was Bill Clinton’s legacy but Bush 41’s policies were instrumental also. Unfortunately when these spending controls expired in 2002, first generation finkos took control and the budget surplus disappeared.

He told me that he had paid off his debts and was saving money. He voted for Obama but he is a fiscal conservative.

It doesn’t matter how you vote, true fiscal conservatives spend less than they earn. If you are not saving sufficiently for your retirement you could be a finko. For way too long we have been fed Pabulum and patted on the head by politicians. The fiscal problems facing Americans are neither conservative nor liberal they are American. We need fiscal prudence and it needs to begin at home.

Buz Livingston is a certified financial planner. He operates Livingston Financial Planning Inc. focusing on hourly financial planning and investment management. Contact him directly at 850-267-1068 or at buz@LivingstonFinancial.net.