With the mid-term elections in the past, one can’t help but marvel at the transformation of the two major parties, at least in the short-term. The GOP has been portrayed as the party of big government, while the Democrats are now seen as the party of budgetary restraint and fiscal responsibility. The truth, however, is far more complex. The left may very well embrace fiscal responsibility, in the short come, but that responsibility will come with massive tax increases to offset the anticipated increases in social spending.

The Dems have claimed that they will move to reduce excess spending in order to balance the budget. In reality, the Dems will reduce military spending to increase spending on education, healthcare, welfare and other social programs and every other program with a failed track record.

Already we have heard rumblings of the return of Hillary-care, we have heard grumblings of tax increases and a raise in the minimum wage, a perfect trifecta of the same economy wrecking tactics the Dems have used with reckless abandon for generations. Under such circumstances all hope of fiscal responsibility is all but lost.

With the looming threat of social security insolvency, and an abhorrence to the principle of privatization, tax increases for the rich (i.e., everybody) is all but certain. Indeed the Democrats, and their misinterpretation of last week’s electoral victories, may be the best for the GOP if they can ever hope for a return to power. Last week’s election’s were not an endorsement of leftist dogma, so much as it was a repudiation of GOP incompetence. A sizable number of Americans support limited government and no more support the GOP’s efforts to legislate “traditional values” than they support leftist efforts revive their socialist agenda.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-11-12-budget-deficit-analysis_x.htm