Why that's a relief. But really.

We're not on a 'road to serfdom' - CNN.com

Republicans are almost literally afraid of their own shadow. They wonder, if they've won all they've won, why government still grows, why the deficits and the debt grows for the country. They blame it on liberals.

But they're responsible for much of that debt and spending themselves. I doubt its all truly intentional. I believe that they simply believe so strongly in a certain effort to curb government spending by lowering revenues, and also that cutting taxes can raise revenues to the point of recovery, that when the inevitable happens, they're not prepared to admit that it's their doing.

Self delusion is not a virtue in the practice of policy. Unexamined policy, much less unexamined overall assumptions on policy, can cause great harm.

We should always engage in policy with a question mark in the back of our minds: will it work, and how can I tell? In matters as complicated as real world policy this can be difficult and painful, but the alternative, I think, is more painful.

If the Republicans are concerned about debt and deficit, truly concerned about it, they might start, instead of attacking Democrats over it, doing a good, objective study of the results of their own policy, and seeing the results, hopefully decide the best course of policy from that, not simply repeat the hundredth Republican talking point about how tax cuts don't represent spending (even though you have to deficits spend where you don't make provisions to absorb the cost somewhere, in order to get the money to pay people back with.