Enthusiasm for Reagan (which I’m sure would have been infused with far more cynicism if I’d been older and more experienced at the time), I’ve never once not chosen from among lesser evils.

The Republican Party has become the greatest fiscal danger to the country. If you look at it dispassionately, historical partisan rooting interests aside. Repubs, and repubs only in recent history, govern by brinksmanship. They put on a show, but which includes nothing that really matters to your kids’ future burden (SS, HC, Defense). They introduce a default risk that would be years in the future without the doubts they sow about our willingness to pay. That puts upward pressure on interest rates, and shutdowns actually wind up adding to the deficit and debt, not reducing them.

Anyway, both parties suck on fiscal discipline, pretty close to equally. Only one sucks on the willingness to pay part. So maybe you hang your hat on the old adage about repub fiscal discipline, but the reality is you support the greater fiscal evil when voting repub. Or when refusing to hold your nose to vote for the lesser evil, which at least passively helps give the greater fiscal evil power.