The Big, Beautiful Republican Hypocrisy

I believe that, like a responsible adult, government should spend no more than it earns and should not borrow from our children to pay for current consumption. By definition, this makes me a fiscal conservative.

As a fiscal conservative, I voted Republican for much of my life, since it was the Republican Party that—at least rhetorically—opposed large government spending financed by debt. I became an independent for many reasons, not the least of which was the reality that while Republicans campaigned as protectors of fiscal integrity, they did not govern that way. In fact, the average percentage increase in the national debt under the six Republican administrations from Nixon to Trump was 75%, compared to 45% under the four Democratic administrations from Johnson to Biden.

What is perplexing is that, despite this record, Republicans have managed to maintain the false narrative that they are the nation’s fiscal watchdogs. When Democrats are in power, they reflexively oppose nearly every spending bill and every required increase in the debt ceiling—with endless theatrics.

Which brings us to their most recent, and perhaps most brazen, act of hypocrisy: their so-called One Big Beautiful Budget. Once again, their reckless, unpaid-for spending will widen the deficit by trillions of dollars, pushing us closer to the fiscal cliff of insolvency. Borrowing from our children is a strange way to make America great again.

We can only hope that, once and for all, this long-running political canard will be silenced—and that voters will finally see through the illusion of Republican fiscal responsibility.