Being socially liberal refers to those in support of progressive policies that involve the rights and restrictions people have in their daily lives. It tends to involve the acceptance of things and people that don’t conform to tradition: atheism, homosexuality, multiculturalism, abortion rights, etc. Financially conservative refers to those in support of a more laissez-faire economy and reduced government regulation, spending, and taxation. It involves limited spending and limited government.

The thing is, you cannot really be both.

There is an undeniable relationship between social issues and economics, as every social issue contains fiscal elements that make them economic issues as well. To be socially liberal yet fiscally conservative is to ignore the immense impact that economic policies have on social justice.

Conservative policies typically seek to keep the minimum wage low and to tax the rich lightly to “promote business.” This leads to decreased spending on social programs that attempt to alleviate issues the lower and middle-class face. Being fiscally conservative fails to fix a broken system and leaves millions of Americans vulnerable to poverty. It reinforces systems of inequality that were built on economic inequity such as long-standing policies of discrimination and exclusion of BIPOC. Conservative tax laws, such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, are classic examples of how fiscal policy changes to maintain racial economic inequality. Such tax laws maintain an economic system that benefits those with wealth and high income, who are disproportionately white due to historic economic privilege.

Fiscal conservatism is an ideology for the privileged, the people who remain unaffected by current disasters because of their wealth. Fiscal conservatives assume that everyone has access to freedom, but that’s simply not true for people with no financial means to support themselves. Federal tax codes, along with other fiscal policies such as cuts to welfare spending are 21st-century tools for racial oppression. To support fiscal conservatism is to support systematic oppression of people of color.

The bottom line is that economic equality is social equality, and the stance of being socially liberal and fiscally conservative is not only oxymoronic but actively harmful to minority groups.