As long as we continue to invest heavily in the death machine that is the 'defense' industry, ignoring the environment and poverty, fiscal conservativism will always be an unamusing, laughable absurdity. In order to move the current 'center' back to a reasonable center, a lot of those so-called social liberals are going to have to get a clue that embracing progressive ideals is the only way to ensure we survive as a nation. Righties sure don't care about investing in the welfare of people, but progressives do, and only the humane policies of the liberal left give us a chance of warding off total collapse.