Gone are the days when Republicans cared about fiscal responsibility

In 2010, I was one of thousands of Americans marching in Washington, D.C., demanding to be heard by politicians who were putting special interests and bureaucracy above the flourishing of the American people. I carried a cardboard sign I had made in my kitchen the day before — “The People’s Work Starts Now!” — and stood arm in arm with other stay-at-home mothers and people of all racial and religious backgrounds (collectively, the tea party movement) who were fed up with corporate bailouts and an ever-growing government.

In 2018, while my days of marches were over, my career advocating for limited government was just getting started. I had written an op-ed for the New York Times that was more than a critique of President Donald Trump — it was a critique of the ballooning government spending spree. Republicans tend to abhor government spending on the campaign trail, and then kowtow to those demands once in office. “The People’s Work Continues!” I wrote then.

It’s now 2022, and I’m having a serious case of déjà vu.

How is it that — for more than a decade — Republicans have abandoned fiscal responsibility as the issue of our day?

Limiting government spending used to be a shoo-in for Republicans, a hill-to-die-on issue for conservatives, and the heartbeat of those who truly believe that limiting government — and its spending — yields the most prosperity.

We, the people, are working — but our elected leaders are failing us, opting to talk about issues they know will drive clicks instead of the kitchen table issues that drive change.

Gone are the days when Republicans cared about fiscal responsibility. Though they will control the U.S. House in 2023, Republicans will likely have a hard time getting anything accomplished in the way of curbing government spending — and it won’t be solely the fault of their progressive counterparts.

This won’t provide relief for the American people, most of whom are still drowning in economic woes including record-high inflation, reduced real income, and slowed GDP growth — spurred by the Trump-Biden tariffs and the bloated spending bills we’ve seen enacted in the past two years. Nor will it be a source of comfort for Americans as we enter winter with looming energy price increases and extra costs to consider.

The fix is simple. We need a return to the limited government, free-market principles that make us more prosperous.

Will Republicans lead us there? It’s possible — if they embrace commonsense reforms instead of Twitter wars and put their money where their mouth is. Republicans need not reinvent the wheel to find success — just look at what Colorado’s done in the 30 years since it enacted its Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.

Considered the gold standard of state fiscal notes, the state’s tax and expenditure limit has yielded $8.2 billion since its enactment. Pennsylvania has its own proposed expenditure limit: The Taxpayer Protection Act, or TPA, would have saved Pennsylvanians an estimated $46.6 billion if it were passed in 2003, the first year of Gov. Ed Rendell’s first term. Lawmakers in Pennsylvania have the chance to push the TPA forward this spring — and they must deliver.

But in reality, lawmakers don’t even need to enact legislation to help Americans. They simply need to say no to massive tax increases and spending packages.

It’s an idea so radical that even John Fetterman supported it — at least while campaigning. In his campaign for U.S. Senate, Fetterman campaigned not as the progressive that most people consider him, but as a moderate populist — at least when it came to economic issues.

Fetterman ran ads supporting cutting taxes, eliminating wasteful government spending, combating inflation, creating jobs, and we all heard his claim that he supports fracking. Nothing about those policies sounds like a progressive — instead, that platform sounds eerily similar to that of the tea party candidates I supported back in 2010.

Will Fetterman govern as a moderate? Will he take up the cause of free-market principles? That’s to be determined.

It’s not uncommon for politicians — of both parties — to campaign one way and then govern another. It’s up to us to hold them accountable to their promises.

Controlling spending is the path to combating inflation, ensuring good government, and delivering prosperity to all Americans. Until politicians return to fiscal sanity, the people’s work continues — yet again.