By mocking budgetary accountability, the legislature erodes it in the rest of government. Member Issues and Budget Turkeys Contradict Fiscal Conservatism Given the profusion of member issues and budget turkeys, the definition of fiscal conservatism may take on new meaning. Worse yet, fiscal conservatism may lose all relevance as a political construct that has significance in the discernable behavior of the body politic. Fiscal conservatism is not founded upon principles that pander to parochial needs or responds to the pressures of special interests. Responsible stewardship of public expenditures is restricted to the support of a common good that allows the optimum of individual initiative and free behavior.
Fiscal conservatism operates within the confines of specific parameters.
In fact, the genesis of a turkey is based on the contradictions to what is fundamental to fiscal conservatism. At the same time, it delimits, in a framework of law, the unwholesome processes such as parochial favoritism and the authoritarian expression of raw power. One of the best arguments for stopping turkeys is the many urgently needed state services that the funds spent on turkeys would otherwise purchase. Florida TaxWatch investigated other funding opportunities for the revenue appropriated to this year's turkey crop. The proliferation of member issues often occurs with dozens of earmarks listed as proviso language in a specific line item, such as the line item in the Department of Environmental Protection's Budget for local parks or the line item for local livestock pavilions and farmers markets in the Department of Agriculture.