A USA TODAY analysis of 25 major government programs found that enrollment increased an average of 17% in the programs from 2000 to 2005. The nation's population grew 5% during that time. (Related graph: Federal entitlements have changed)It was the largest five-year expansion of the federal safety net since the Great Society created programs such as Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s.
In other words, the Republican Party talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk, on reining in "big government." Instead, Republicans are essentially the "massive deficits" party, due to their big tax cuts for the top 1% (nothing much for the other 99% - in other words, almost all of us) and wild spending spree ("bridge to nowhere," anyone?). Meanwhile, when the Democrats were in charge back in the 1990s, we had balanced budgets and even surpluses. Maybe the Republican Party should be renamed the "Drunken Sailor" Pary, as in "spends like a drunken sailor?" Seems about right to me.