Democrats as the Party of Austerity

A rather interesting post over at Crooked Timber argues that the Democratic Party has become the party of austerity and that the Republicans have become the wild, irresponsible kids. This is leading to a reversal of electoral fortunes, where before the Republicans were the mature party of sober thought and hence largely lost elections they have now become drug pushers handing out samples of addictive tax cuts at every opportunity (my words, not the linked post) while the Democrats are the sober minded party trying to deal with our problems in a balanced sustainable way, and are suffering the electoral consequence for simply not giving away things without paying for them.