Rule Of Thumb

Conor Friedersdorf argues with Freddie DeBoer:

[If] Americans express contradictory preferences, lusting for new government programs without being willing to fund them, the default outcome should be passing the programs. I’d say the default should be: don’t pass any new program Americans aren’t willing to fund with higher taxes. Given that standard, I imagine that the country would be far less amenable to certain programs Freddie champions than he thinks.

Freddie responds in the comments.