We've discussed whether Tea Party efforts to make drastic cuts in the U.S. budget (Texas too for that matter) will lead to a backlash, but there's always the possibility that they will be able to convinced the bulk of the population that these cuts are necessary and that they then become -- maybe not popular -- but palatable. If so, then there are fewer electiral drawbacks to the strategy.
Here's a related story. From the NYT:
Republicans in the House of Representatives are poised to place a dramatic political bet. Led by the wonkish Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, they will unveil a 2012 budget on Tuesday that wagers their political futures on the assumption that voters are ready to accept tough changes in the most sacrosanct government programs.
The budget they are preparing to embrace in the coming days would slash federal government spending by more than $6 trillion over the next 10 years, mostly by reinventing the nation’s largest social programs in ways that Republicans have talked about for years.
....
But the open question for Republicans as they approach the 2012 election cycle is whether voters will reward them for confronting those challenges even if — as has been the case in past legislative efforts of this kind — the changes they seek prove to be highly unpopular.
