> The GOP always cries about spending and the deficit, but when they're in charge, they spend just as much as Democrats (if not more!), and, to make things wors

> The GOP always cries about spending and the deficit, but when they're in charge, they spend just as much as Democrats (if not more!), and, to make things worse, cut taxes (usually for the rich more than anyone else). The largest part of the federal budget isn't the discretionary spending, anyway. IMHO, the GOP wants to reduce government spending for ideological reasons, but doesn't generally have any particular thing it wants to reduce spending on, and certainly doesn't want to take the blame for cutting any particular programs. So they do a tax cut, because voters like tax cuts; and chances are Democrats will be in power when the deficit / debt gets big enough that it needs to be addressed. Then Democrats will have to do the poor PR business of raising taxes or making specific cuts. If Democrats make specific cuts to reduce government spending in order to make the lower taxes work, the GOP furthered their ideology and got good vibes for lowering taxes, while the Democrats got bad vibes for cutting programs. I don't like it, but it works for the GOP, so I'm sure we'll see it continue.