If you read Paul Krugman’s Friday column about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s economic non-plan back to back with stories about the administration's desperate attempt to avoid increasing troop strength in the U.S. military (see, e.g., the lead story in today'sNew York Times, or this AP story), you realize that what P. J. O’Rourke said in the early ‘90s is exactly wrong.

O’Rourke said that God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat. Isn't it abundantly clear now that the Republicans are now the Santa Claus party -- the party that believes that you can regularly get something for nothing, without sacrifice?

Schwarzenegger thinks California can be extracted from its economic tailspin without new taxes or painful spending cuts; Rumsfeld and his generals say that the U.S. can be the world’s policeman without any extra money being spent on troops. This is infantile thinking -- Santa Claus thinking.