Scott Free, I can also think of another explanation. Republicans favor tax cuts, they are dogmatic about it, Democrats (or even Liberals here) do not hesitate to raise taxes whenever necessary.
Clinton raised taxes in the 1993 budget, that was one of the main reasons why he was able to balance the budget. As a result of that vote in the Congress (which was a virtually tie, the tax increase got a bare majority of one vote in a heavily Democratic House), Democrats lost the control of House and Senate in 1994. However, I think losing that control was well worth it for the wellbeing of the economy, the well ebbing of the country.
Similar thing happened here in Ontario. Before the election (the one before last), Conservatives were in power, they told everybody that the deficit was 2 billion $. Based upon that, McGuinty promised not to raise taxes. But when he came to power, it turned out the deficit was 6 billion $. McGuinty realized that the only way to balance the budget was to raise taxes and he promptly did so.
All Hell broke lose; everybody was yelling bloody murder, Conservatives louder than anybody. Liberals plummeted in opinion polls. However, McGuinty stood firm and was able to balance the budget. He risked losing an election, ruining his political career in order to try to fix Ontario’s economy.
He risked his political life to try to fix Ontario’s economy. He was able to balance the budget, and was rewarded by voters by even a bigger majority the last time around.
If fixing the economy meant losing an election, I think it was well worth it. Republicans however, want to cut taxes whether it is warranted or not. That leads to budget deficit. If they cut taxes, the only way to balance the budget would be to cut spending. But people don’t like that, if they cut spending, people will get mad and they will lose election.
Running a budget deficit is the easy way out. There is no short term fallout, it is like spending money using a credit card, everybody is happy in the short term. Republicans can deliver their tax cuts without cutting spending.
Of course, they pile up huge debt for their children to pay, but by then these politicians will be safely out of the office, leaving somebody else (usually a democrat) to sort out the mess.
