Every child born today owes $36,000 on the federal debt. Now, to be sure, not all debt is bad debt. Early in life we all run up debt on things like school loans and mortgages. These things are good investments in the long run. This begets the question: Has Bush been running deficits making sound social investment in wealth generation infrastructure?
The answer sadly is no. The party of "small government" has been increasing discretionary spending even as they now slash funding for scientific research, education loans, and physical and social infrastructure. Meanwhile, no-bid contractors in Iraq are handed duffle bags full of money with no questions asked or strings attached, the Department of Homeland Security is being used as a Republican pork slush fund, and lobbyists like Abramoff direct the writing of federal earmarks as Republicans waste the $36,000/child birth tax on crony capitalism and partisan pork.
The Republican Party, the party of borrow and waste, cannot claim the mantle of fiscal conservatism. The Democratic Party stands for fiscal responsibility and sound social investment.