Watching Paul closely as he is the “only” Republican I would even consider, and I actually like him more than any of the Dems. I’ve always associated more with the Libertarian point-of-view anyhow. Leave people alone to do what they want as long as they don’t hurt anyone else, and leave other countries alone as long as they aren’t threatening the US.
AmCan, to make your point a little better, here’s a graph I found:
http://zfacts.com/p/318.html
Yes, the Republicans are the true tax and spend party.
(note: the graph is cut off on the left, it spiked during WWII, and has only gone up in the Reagan, Bush and Bush years.)