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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> Republicans want everyone to be morally good, according to their (the
> republicans') morals.  They don't mind big government telling people what
> is morally best for everyone.
>
> Democrats want everyone to have the same: the same education and
> intelligence, the same amount and kind of food, the same size and kind of
> home; and they don't mind big government to pay for it and run it.

I wonder if there is a list somewhere that shows the programs enacted by 
both parties and their approximate annual cost. My sense of it is that 
Republicans say they want less government but what they most want is lower 
taxes. Who can disagree with the concept of a lesser tax burden? At least 
under Bush II we have lower taxes but we also have more expenditures with 
the inevitable result of massive debt. Who will pay the debt? What 
economical alchemy will make such a program work? Democrats at least under 
Clinton seemed to me to be more realistic regarding the tension between tax 
levels and national debt.

On balance I am more conservative than liberal. But Bush has made me 
forever skeptical that Republicans are any more fiscally conservative than 
Democrats. He saw the results of his father saying over and over again, 
"watch my lips, no new taxes," and then raise taxes, so he learned the 
political lesson: give the people the pap of programs but lower taxes and 
let someone else do the heavy lifting of somehow digging us out of dirty debt.

I am one who deeply resents any president and the DC Whorehouse formerly 
known as the US Congress mandating unfunded programs that hurt communities.