Posted at State 29:

Former Iowa blogger David Hogberg, writing in the American Spectator last week:
Finally, the contention that divided government leads to fiscal restraint is unconvincing. It rests heavily on the Reagan and Clinton years, but a look at the year-to-year percentage change of the government portion of gross domestic product suggests that fiscal restraint is far more contingent on the political climate. Most of Reagan's fiscal restraint came in his first two years in office, after his smashing 1980 victory. As the years wore on, and Democrats in the House got better at fighting Reagan, spending began to increase. In the early 1990s, the emergence of the Perot voter -- who was very concerned about the federal budget deficit -- and the scramble of both Clinton and the GOP to woo those voters, led to spending restraint. However, when the deficit became a surplus in 1998, Washington politicians forgot their frugal ways. This resulted in spending increases in 1999 and 2000 that were the highest since 1990 and set the stage for the spending orgy of the Bush years.
Would Bush and a Democrat-controlled House be an improvement over recent years? Doubtful. Bush is, at best, a squish on fiscal restraint (and that's being charitable). Last week, House Democrats voted overwhelmingly, 147-45, against a modest earmark reform bill. Sure, Bush might get serious about spending once the Democrats took over, but what would his argument be -- that the Democrats were trying to undo all the fiscal restraint he imposed? Indeed, the press would portray him as a cynic, only caring about spending now that the opposition is in power. Since the White House doesn't seem to have the stomach for such a fight, a more likely scenario is Bush and the House Democrats cutting budget deals resulting in spending increases as bad, if not worse, than what we have now.
Yes, conservatives, myself included, are rightly disgusted with Congressional Republicans' profligacy. But that disgust is beginning to get through, with Congress recently approving an online database to track spending and the House passing the aforementioned earmark reform. Such efforts will surely stall should Democrats win control of the House. The answer is to keep up the pressure through the grassroots and blogosphere efforts like Porkbusters.

Read the whole Hog thing.
Both Republicans AND Democrats should have a look.
And don't miss Stephen Slivinski's followup that was published today.

...read complete post at State 29