Keith Devens .com

Republican Spending

As an update to the recent tax cut discussion here, I think these two posts by Josh Claybourn are extremely relevant.

• The Truth About Republicans
• Not Again

All of this leaves you wondering why we let Republicans get away with calling themselves "the party of fiscal responsibility." Let's recap. State Republicans are worse in the area of spending than Democrats, but so are national Republicans. In other words, Republicans spend more than Democrats hands down. And since this disgusting spending was far greater than the rate of inflation, the vast budget woes states have are just as much the fault of Republicans as it is a poor economy (assuming that the two aren't related, when they might be).

There is no excuse, political or otherwise, for the irresponsible spending habits of Republicans at every level of government. Peter Ferrara recently wrote in NRO, "The real reason liberals are against the tax cuts has nothing to do with the deficit or sound economic policy. They just want as much tax revenue as possible so they can increase spending and feed their political machine." Uh, maybe, but the party that's best at increasing spending and feeding their political machine is none other than the GOP. It's criminal for Republicans to keep calling themselves the party of small of[sic] government.

... no matter how you slice it, state GOP governments have increased spending on par with the Democrats. But the argument doesn't hinge on state spending anyway. On the national scene the Republican Congress has increased the budget by 50% since 1995. I'm not arguing that Democrats are more fiscally conservative than Republicans. I'm arguing that Republicans are just as bad as Democrats. The difference is important.

The most disheartening thing in all of this is the unwillingness to hold representatives accountable, especially those within our own party. ... It's unwise and unhealthy to toe the party line when it goes against reason and proven success. ... The GOP is already supreme and has been for some time. But it's now turning its back on core principles that got it there.

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