[UberVernunft]

President Bush will submit a budget soon and I can guarantee you that spending will increase (even excluding military increase) above and beyond inflation.

I wonder if this would be true, for either party, going back before Reagan?

[Dales]

I am not really arguing Sentry's point here, because I agree with his general premise, which is that the Republicans have not stemmed the tide of governmental growth effectively at all.

However, adjusting for inflation is not sufficient to give a real indication, Sentry. You also have to adjust for population growth.

One thing that has to be understood is that while conservatives have held a lot of sway in the Republican party, we have not been the overwhelming majority in the Republican party often, if ever. But we are a lot closer to accomplishing that than we are to accomplishing something such as turning a third party into a viable option.