Which party is really about less government?

[BanginJimmy]

Do you read Graphs very often? If you look at the second graph which is the legislative branch it shows that spending is continuous regardless of who has control. What changes is the slope of the line dependent upon who is president.

seems that a dem president and a republican congress flattens out spending.

The graph on Congress is relatively flat during the Clinton years as compared to when George W. Bush took over. Obviously the president has an effect on Federal Spending.. to think otherwise would simply be fooling yourself.

You also have to look at what happened during the individual presidencies. Reagan made no secret of the fact that he planned spend the soviet union out of existance. Every defense penny he spent caused the Soviet union to spend money they didnt have. Bush Sr. had Gulf War 1 and Hurricane Andrew. Both of which resulted in huge govt spending to pay for. Clintons presidency was pretty much eventless. Bosnia was under UN control and had a small impact. The terrorist attacks resulted in no action at all. Bush Jr. has had to deal with 9/11 and the resulting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, and an economic meltdown. All of which resulted in HUGE spedning at the federal level.

Furthermore your argument, if true would absolutely negate the argument that Obama will raise spending to astronomical heights.. because as you say, the President cannot control that. Your words.

The president alone cannot control that, but when the president has a congress that will go alone with his every whim it will definately cause increased spending.