Comments on: Has the Republican Party Lost Its Soul?

By: GOP Universe | America, as Ronald Reagan remembered it

GOP Universe | America, as Ronald Reagan remembered it — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 19:47:08 +0000

[...] Editor: This little ditty was inspired by a post that I read on the Outside the Beltway blog entitled “Has the Republican Party Lost Its Soul?,” which, in turn, references a Townhall.com article [...]

By: Stormy Dragon

Stormy Dragon — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 22:33:36 +0000

The turning point was the government shutdown over the budgeting process in 1995. Given a very clear choice between principle and power, the party collective blinked and gave into demands for more spending in order to avoid risking their electoral prospects. And once they did that once, it became increasingly easier to do it again and again.

It's been downhill ever since.

By: Mikey

Mikey — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 19:19:37 +0000

I'm a Republican and I live in Michigan. Trust me, I'm thrilled to have some highway dollars flowing into this state.
Really, I am.

By: GOP Universe

GOP Universe — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 17:14:28 +0000

Our daddy votes Republican

He says that Liberals create huge budget deficits and enlarge the role of government in our lives.
Editor: This little diddy was inspired by a post I read on the outsidethebeltway blog entitled “Has the Republican Party Lost Its Soul?,”...

By: tubino

tubino — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 15:07:50 +0000

Donât you think its about time we seriously considered abolishing all taxes, and funded the government entirely on borrowing?

That's good. Anything Argentina can do, we can do better! Gosh, wouldn't you love to see the faces of those international lenders when they realize we are never going to repay them! PRICELESS! Um... but what happens after they decide it's not fun anymore to loan us billions each day? We'd have to pay astronomical interest rates to make it worth the risk to anyone... We'd have to depend on the kindness of the IMF to bail us out... So what DID Cheney mean when he said "Deficits don't matter. Reagan proved that."?

By: NJ voter

NJ voter — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:53:11 +0000

Don't you think its about time we seriously considered abolishing all taxes, and funded the government entirely on borrowing?

I see no downside to this...help me.

By: StrangeThingsAfoot.com »

StrangeThingsAfoot.com » — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:04:07 +0000

[...] James Joyner has an excellent piece on the spending of Republicans. [...]

By: tubino

tubino — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:00:57 +0000

Here's a bar chart by president showing buildup of the national debt as a percentage of GDP In some ways it is an even better visual representation than the graph in my previous post. The point is that Bush II may outdo both Bush I and Reagan -- and that's saying a LOT. On the bright side, if consistency is what you want, the GOP is it.

By: tubino

tubino — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 13:39:11 +0000

It is very interesting to learn about the buildup of the national debt as a proportion of GDP. Graph of National Debt Question: you wonder if Reagan would approve of Bush II. Check the graph and ask yourself if the Reagan of your memory would approve of the real Reagan of history.

By: The Unabrewer

The Unabrewer — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 13:30:11 +0000

Yeah, what he said.

"Simply put, the GOP majority has been spending federal tax dollars like drunken sailors since 2001, increasing outlays by an average of 7.25 percent annually." I wish I would have said that. Oh wait, I did. The great thing about cliches is t...

By: Ryan

Ryan — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 13:21:22 +0000

At some point in the not-too-distant past, Republicans realized you could never shrink the federal government by saying "let's shrink the federal government." The next best thing (to Grover Norquist and his ilk) is cutting taxes and increasing spending. Eventually, the thinking goes, the federal government will become so bloated that it will literally contract in upon itself, taking with it all of the sacred Democrat spending cows (i.e., conservative bugaboos like welfare, education, the arts, etc.) of the last 75 years. The don't-tax-but-spend Republicans know exactly what they're doing (or, at least they think they do).