"Republicans love tax cuts. Tax cuts reflect their preference for smaller government. The less money government has from taxes, the less it can spend."

Actually, it is Republican big $ donors who love tax cuts, especially for themselves.  The Republican politicians are just taking their patros' orders.  Republican politicians actually love spending tax payer once they get in to power.  Reagan ran up more debt than all the presidents from Washington to Carter combined.  George W. Bush spent trillions on a war for WMD that didn't even exist.