It's Not Your Grandfather's GOP

I read an interesting op-ed peice:

One of the most negative things to have happened to the increasingly dysfunctional political system in the United States has been the transformation of the Republican Party over the last generation into the party of fiscal deficits. At one time, the bastion of balanced budgets and no free lunches, 70% of gross public debt through the last fiscal year was accumulated under the last three Republican presidents who ran deficits twenty out of twenty years averaging 3.9% of GDP.

This is one of the reasons I will not vote for an eestablishment candidate, as the writter points out they are not credible:

Republicans pontificate about the dangerous levels of gross public debt (now at 101.1% of GDP) and last summer set about playing chicken with a possible default on our financial obligations. In now trumpeting national debt as a paramount evil, the Republicans approach the debate by taking tax increases and defense spending off the table – which is somewhat like resolving to set about losing weight by eschewing dieting and exercise.

If it was your Grandfather's GOP, we would have had balanced budgets. If it was your Grandfather's GOP, we would not have troops scattered around the world. If this was your Grandfather's GOP, we would not be headed for a crisis in a few short years. 

The situation is not normal, we can not continue our current trajectory, we do not have the money.