Quote Originally Posted by Montmorency View Post
Again I don't understand, Seamus. Every Democratic president or presidential candidate since before you were old enough to vote has been a deficit hawk. Whereas the mainstream - the dominant - Republican dogma in the same period has been, with perhaps only the exception of George H.w. Bush (often closer to pre-Goldwater Republicans than to Reagan (i.e. Milton-Friedmanized) Republicans), tax cuts + deficit spending = starve the beast.

Do you deny any of this?
I think virtually every Presidential candidate from either of the majors and most of the parties throughout my lifetime have all CLAIMED to be a deficit hawk. Mainstream GOP conservatives have always hawked the line you note about "starving the beast." It works partially, but in the face of endless deficit growth without any end state, it doesn't tame that beast very well. They peddle the line that growth will conquer all...and then fail to curb the spending thus rendering the added growth moot vis-à-vis the deficit. The Dems vary between crusaders who want to push us into a full on social democracy that makes everyone equal (Sanders end) and the practical politicians (Bill Clinton) who are more interested in the power itself than in the accomplishment.

The last one who seemed like he might actually try to change the budget process and really change the game was Perot in 1992. Sadly, he was something of a fruit-bat on other issues.


The GOP has always been closer to my preferred 'government at the lowest level practicable' approach...but all too often in words only.