Fiscal conservatives voices are way down in the noise, lost forever for sure. There might have been some in the Reagan years, they passed a balanced budget amendment but some Democrats got the Supreme Court to toss it, so why be a fiscal conservative? If the Republicans reign in spending they are just creating headroom for Democrats to spend when they get back in power. All, virtually all governments spend too much and eventually can't make their minimum payments. Greece does it relatively often. I think that Greeks understand the system really well, right? You borrow more than you could ever possibly repay, you live it up for awhile then you cry loudly when you can't make the payments and can't borrow more... what?