neo-conservatism it lead to in modern times

The Bushes have been Republicans-lite since the days of Prescott Bush. The Reagan ticket, with Herbert Walker in the back seat was a victory over their brand of Republicanism... The fact that GWB took no meaningful action on social spending, and then took on the largest deficits we've ever seen (he wasn't ending the cold war with that spending like Reagan did, either), was basically par for the course. The problem is people who use the Republican platform to continue our spending addiction. This is a lesson we continue failing to learn, and it will drag us into insolvency and servitude, which is where the nominees of both parties seem like they really want to go.