Ignoring for the moment the fact that our constitutional republic is based on the very assumption that the public MUST be moral and self-restraining otherwise our system of limited government will necessarily be insufficient to restrain the ill-behavior of the public, let’s examine instead the issue of “fiscal conservatism” from a demographic perspective.
You’re not going to get MORE votes running on a platform of small government and limited handouts, sadly. Such a philosophy is something that only a minority of libertarian-minded and liberty-minded individuals believe in, again sadly. I think fiscal conservatism is a necessary element of any successful nation, but I am rational enough to admit that I’m in an extreme and unpopular minority on that count.
The fact of the matter is that social conservatism is an essential binder uniting disparate political demographics within this nation. You’re not going to get a majority people to vote for a party that ONLY promises to stop paying for your grandma’s medications and stop your government checks, period - no real debate is possible on this count.
You CAN however get people to vote against the party of Sodom and Gomorrah and vote for the party that DOESN’T want to legalize pedophilia, even if the Anti-Perversion Party favors smaller government and less handouts. What’s more, the moral vote crosses ethnic boundaries (whereas the fiscal conservatism platform is almost universally a SWPL).
As an example Proposition 8 in California succeeded so remarkably because it was one of those basic moral issues that Americans of all colors could agree upon, something that cut to the core of American life in a way that economics and taxation cannot. Proposition 8 cut across the color and economic spectrum - whites, hispanics, asians and blacks could all come together and agree on the basic principle that marriage is between a man and a woman. The voting majority that took that socially conservative stance was economically divided - some being tax payers, some being net tax-leeches, but all coming together and agreeing on the basic moral principles that form the foundation of a stable nation.
You simply cannot get that kind of cross-demographic voter turnout on a platform devoid of morals. It’s not possible to get a majority of voters in this nation to jump on your anti-handout platform. You’re not going to get 20 million Amnestied illegals to vote away welfare checks and affirmative action, but you can get them to vote against Sodom & Gomorrah if you’re willing to campaign on the social issues that unite Americans.
If the government gluttony for money does not stop, this stealing is going to permanently weaken the country where it cannot do anything at all about other issues such as sex.
So far, we haven’t legislated that anybody must commit adultery. But we have legislated that the government shall steal!
The stealing has to STOP if we want God’s blessings.