You can accuse Republicans of a lot of things, but you should never accuse them of not being unified in their thinking. A month into the Obama era, the GOP may seem demoralized and disorganized. They may have no clear leader, and their bright young hopes may keep flaming out faster than they can schedule press conferences.
But the diagnosis of the predicament they find themselves in is remarkably consistent.
You've probably heard them say it by now...
Republicans must admit that we lost our way. -Mike Pence
Over the past decade or so...we Republicans lost our way. -Michael Steele
We have lost our way on fiscal responsibility. -John McCain
We kind of lost our way when it comes to the issue of fiscal
responsibility. -John Boehner
When the Republican Party is no longer the party of fiscal conservatism ...then clearly I would argue that we've lost our way. -Bobby Jindal
Fortunately, Republicans also agree on the solution. They must go back to their small-government, Reaganite past!
If we return to our roots, to our belief in freedom, opportunity, security and individual liberty, our party will come back stronger than ever. -John Boehner
Movement conservatives are ready to reassert themselves in order to return our party to its roots of smaller government. -Newt Gingrich
The basic principles that Ronald Reagan talked about in the '80s are just as important today. If we return to those basic core values we can continue to be successful in future elections. -Saxby Chambliss
Limited government is based on the truth of history. We need to do what Ronald Reagan did. -Mike Pence
We must return to the common-sense Reagan Republican ideals. -Mitt Romney
Republicans must return to their Reagan roots. An emphasis on limited government and responsible spending will win. -Andy Brehm
So there it is - call it the "temporary insanity defense." Under the 8 years of Bush, the world shifted off its axis slightly and Republicans started acting like big-spending Democrats. Now that Bush is gone, they have suddenly snapped out of it, come to their senses and will now return soberly to their Reagan roots of limited, fiscally responsible government.
It's a convenient theme in an era when Obama was passed on huge deficits, and will be forced to spend more if he wants to get anything done. And the screaming and nashing on teeth over Obama's spending plans has already begun. Problem is, a quick glance at the facts shows that this view of history is not only false - it's ludicrous.
Contrary to the lie perpetuated by Repubs (and bought into by the media) NONE of the past three GOP presidents - Reagan, Bush I or Bush II - were fiscal conservatives. In fact, their hero Reagan not only didn't care about the deficit, he exploded government spending with a military spending free for all that lasted nearly a decade.
$780 billion to stimulate the economy? Reagan would have laughed you out of the room. Inheriting a (relatively) measly $74 billion deficit from Carter (which was the same number Carter had started with), Reagan instantly doubled the government's entire military spending in his first year. All told, the Reagan Administration spent a massive $1.5 trillion on the military in their first five years, the largest build-up in the history of the world when there wasn't actually a war going on.
What's that you say Bobby Jindal - volcano research is a waste of money? Reagan dumped billions into the controversial, unproven Star Wars program with the goal of nuclearizing space. Reagan wanted to spend $1.6 trillion on that program alone.
Reagan's military stimulus was laden with pork and inefficiency.
"It wasn't a buildup, it was just a spend-up," [Pentagon consultant] Sprey said. Reagan gave money to defense contractors for weapons while funds for troops, maintenance and training languished. For example, not only did Reagan approve construction of the costly B-2 bomber, Sprey said, he also resurrected the B-1 bomber, a problem-plagued program that the Air Force didn't want and the Carter administration canceled.
Reagan's generosity also bred waste and excess in the defense industry...leading to scandals after which Congress scolded the military for spending hundreds of dollars on spare parts such as hammers and toilet seats.
The defense buildup was at the same time that taxes on the rich were slashed from 70% to 28% (!) in 7 years. Just two weeks after his inaugeration, Reagan brushed aside any calls for fiscal responsibility.
"There were always those who told us that taxes couldn't be cut unless spending was reduced," Mr. Reagan said then. "Well, you know, we can lecture our children until we run out of voice and breath."
The result of Reagonomics?
In order to cover new federal budget deficits, the United States borrowed heavily both domestically and abroad, raising the national debt from $700 billion to $3 trillion, and the United States moved from being the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation.
It's not just that Reagan was a deficit spender. Reagan was the original deficit spender. He invented massive deficit spending on a level never seen before by the U.S. government - and, sadly, it's a course that the country has been unable to reverse since.
Under George H. W. Bush, the deficit swelled to $290 billion in the four years he was in office. It took a Democrat - Bill Clinton - to start to reverse the tide and for a moment at the end of the 90s, the U.S. was running a surplus. But then, George W. Bush jumped in and took things to the next level, replicating Reagan's strategy of slashing taxes and engaging in massive military spending at the same time. Within three years, the U.S. was running it's biggest deficits of all time.
Republicans want to go "back to the future," but in doing so they are attempting to perform an impossible feat. There is simply no small government, Reaganite past to return to. And Bush, the black sheep of the family, was no aberration. In a very real way, Bush was a Reagan conservative - a big spending, fiscally irresponsible supply-sider who threw the government ever deeper into debt. Something to keep in mind as the wailing over Obama's "liberal big government spending" ramps up.