Why none of the current Republican contenders can win in a general election

None of the Republicans is will to at least consider raising revenue.

If you are truly fiscally responsible you consider all options to bring spending in line with revenue. Some times that means cutting spending sometimes that means taking on a second job and sometimes that means both.

Too many people confuse smaller government with being fiscally conservative or cutting taxes being fiscally conservative. Those are ideologies but you can not budget anything correctly if you do not look at what you spend and what your revenue is.

It is okay if you are for a smaller government but that is not the same thing as what we are talking about. We are talking about bringing spending in line with our revenue which means you need to look at both. Obviously the more government spending you get rid of the less revenue you need, but, as has been seen in the past, most people are not ready to give up enough of the services the government provides to get to where we need be.

While candidate may believe that we need less revenue because they don’t want the government to provide many services they need to be realistic about what can pass in congress. More importantly they have to examine closely the cost of all the things they accept the government hast to provide, a military, roads? I am sure even those that advocate for smallest government possible can think of a few other items they want.

Once they do that, if they still think we can pay for all the things and pay off our debt they need to convince enough congress people to give up things that they cherish. This is an up hill battle since the majority of the population is okay with raising some revenue to pay for the things they value.

A true fiscal conservative is more interested in balancing the budget over the long run than he is in shrinking government. If your primary concern is shrinking the government you are a conservative, but you are not fiscally conservative because getting spending and revenues to align is not your top priority, shrinking the government and cutting taxes is.

Almost all credible economists and every bipartisan commission that has looked at this issue in the past say we need to look at both, spending and revenue.