I find it amusing that the Republican party totes itself as being fiscally conservative. The vast majority of people who vote Republican do so (they say) because they like fiscal conservitism, yet they claim to be socially liberal. However, take a look back at the last 2 decades. All 3 of the Republican administrations have consitently posted deficits. The only administration to claim a surplus was Clinton.

There definitely are differences in what each party likes to spend money on. I guess these days fiscally conservative only applies to areas like schools, health care and other useful programs. As long as you spend less money there, you can spend as much money as you want and still be “fiscally conservative.”

Here’s a link to a CNN article on the latest spending numbers. Keep in mind that even though they say that even though they are discussing mainly Congress’ spending, the Congress is currently controlled by the Republicans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A28252-2003Nov11?language=printer