Not only do conservative governments tend to be guilty of the sins that they preach against, but often times, they are the worst offenders. Reagan railed against big government, but expanded the military budget astronomically even with an increasingly friendly Soviet Union under Gorbachev as the supposed existential threat. Reagan blew up the debt and deficit to record levels, mostly by cutting taxes for rich people and engaging in the aforementioned military spending. Another aspect of this military spending was supposed to be the "Star Wars" project. Needless to say, that didn't happen. George W. Bush acted identically to Reagan, just on a grander scale with bigger tax cuts and an elective invasion and occupation of Iraq to boot. Trump, following suit in good Republican fashion, is trying to do this on an even more outrageous scale. Sadly, most of the Democrats these days are little more than Republican-light, as exemplified by eight years of feet dragging and inaction under Barack Obama.