Dems are party of fiscal responsibility

Shout this out at the top of your lungs:

REPUBLICANS ... WERE BIGGER SPENDERS THAN DEMOCRATS IN STATE LEGISLATURES OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS

I've made hay about how the GOP is actually BAD for fiscal responsibility -- how both Bush presidencies have been marked by record deficits. How GOP governors are currently leading the way with tax increases while most of their newly elected Dem counterparts avoid raising taxes. How the stock market performs best during Democratic administrations.

But the myth persists that the GOP is a better steward of the taxpayer's money. Reality is quite different. Those days are long past, the roles reversed.

State legislatures controlled by Republicans increased spending an average of 6.54% per year from 1997 to 2002, compared with 6.17% for legislatures run by Democrats [...]

At a time when states are facing severe budget problems, many Republicans are blaming shortfalls on runaway spending by Democrats during the economic boom of the late 1990s. USA TODAY's analysis suggests otherwise. It matched spending changes in states from 1997 to 2002 with which party controlled the legislature and governor's mansion.

The survey also found that divided government yielded the slowest spending growth, which is quite logical.

But it is funny to see the GOP exposed -- AGAIN! -- for the free-spending fiscal liberals they are. Even Andrew Sullivan is coming rhetorically closer to changing party affiliation:

I'm socially liberal and fiscally conservative, for example, which is almost the opposite of the current Republican establishment, which is socially conservative and fiscally liberal (they dropped the fiscal conservatism as soon as a Republican won the presidency).

At some point Sullivan will have to admit it -- the Democratic Party is now the party of social liberalism and fiscal conservatism.

They've got Santorum, Lott, and and trillions of dollars in debt.

Take your pick. And once you reaffirm your fealty to the Democratic Party, continue to educate those around you:

The Democratic Party is the party of fiscal responsibility.

Posted May 20, 2003 12:35 AM | Comments (65)