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Notes -
An interesting thought experiment. What if, after 1932, the Republican party was socially conservative but fiscally liberal. It might be that we are at the same position as our current timeline vis-a-vis the debt, but with much lower crime, multiculturalism, and degeneracy.
Assuming that spending is constrained by external factors, it doesn't make sense for one party to restrain spending so their enemies can spend twice as much.
Reminds me of the "good" kings throughout history who handed a giant treasury surplus to their successors only to have their successors blow it on extravagance and foreign wars. Today we remember Henry VIII, the spender and warmonger, not Henry VII, the prudent saver.
Although I'll note that Henry VIII's wars are one of the least remembered things about him, compared to his personal life, religious policy, or even diplomacy (Field of the Cloth of Gold). All that money culminated in... burning down Edinburgh, occupying Boulogne for six years, and selling that town back to the French. Almost as much of a waste of money as the Great Society.
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