Signs of a new political culture abound. Call it the era of “reverse pork barrel.”

In the past, lawmakers wore federal projects delivered to their districts as a badge of honor. Moreover, they viewed voting for spending cuts as politically risky. About fifteen years ago, two well-respected political columnists, Jack Germond and Jules Witcover, cautioned that Democrats might pay a steep political price if they joined with Republicans in a deficit-cutting drive. “The danger here will be that when the time comes, that support in the polls will prove illusory as voters are faced with the actual costs of the pain,” they wrote in a 1995 piece in the Baltimore Sun.