How do "social issues" fit into this paradigm?
I'm not sure. I'm only addressing the simple notion that if the USA were to revert back to the tax rates of the Clinton years, we'd be on the path to prosperity according to some on the left. I'm simply countering with the obvious idea that one needs to consider the spending side of the equation too.
Mitt Romney is to the right of each and every one of those guys, without a doubt. True, he's to the left of Rick Sanctorum...... except, of course, that Sanctorum is a free-spending big government "conservative".