There are two theories here. The first is that, when confronted by the enormous temptation of actual control of the budget, the Republicans forgot their vows of poverty- especially in the face of being able to give money to their friends.

The other theory is that it’s delibert. They actually do try to cut spending on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the spending the Republicans really want to cut are generally widely popular- for example, Social Security or Medicaid. People don’t like it when the goverment cuts these programs. So the idea here is to make cutting these programs not optional- run the debt up to the point where the alternatives are cutting the popular programs, or fiscal apocaplyse.

Of course, the problem with playing chicken is knowing when to swerve. I’m not at all sure that the warning signs of impending fiscal apocalypse will be clear enough, unambiguous enough, and early enough to do any good. Instead, I think it is much more likely we’ll just wake up one day to discover the US goverment having to default on it’s debt and devalue it’s currency, at which point it’ll be way, way too late.

So take your pick: are Republicans simply so weak willed and corrupt they can’t say no to pork, or are they are so evil that they will destroy the goverment in order to cut popular programs. Your call.