This report from the Heritage Foundation provides hope that there are at least a few government leaders who truly subscribe to fiscal discipline -

Conventional wisdom has long held that voters punish politicians who cut government spending. Politicians fear that they will be labeled uncaring, lose friends, and maybe even lose their jobs if they try to scale back the size of government, even for the sake of balancing a budget.

...four governors--two Republicans and two Democrats--have made deep cuts in usually sacrosanct programs and have seen their popularity skyrocket.

One of those 4 is, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger --

..In recent years, California has been the most outlandish case of fiscal mismanagement. The electorate recalled Governor Gray Davis (D) and sent Arnold Schwarzenegger to Sacramento with a mandate to restore fiscal sanity. The "Governator" immediately declared a state of financial crisis and attempted to cut $1 billion from the current fiscal year budget. Although the California Assembly has tried to frustrate his efforts, Schwarzenegger proposed a 2005 state budget that cuts $4 billion.

...Schwarzenegger's connection with the electorate was again demonstrated on Super Tuesday, when California voters supported his positions by passing the $15 billion bond together with a balanced budget amendment and by rejecting an initiative that would have made it easier to increase taxes.

I took some heat from friends for supporting Swarzenegger and I'm sure he's been far from perfect, BUT, he's nevertheless reigned in the perhaps the worst fiscal mess in the country and hammered through a refinancing bill + balanced budget amendment with bipartisan support.   I can rather plainly state that neither issue was very high on either Gray Davis' or Cruz Bustamante's list.

Now, while there is some hope here at the state level, none of these governors have to deal with the full force of the AARP, et. al. when trying to tackle Social Security, Medicare.  Until I see a crack in the Social Security / Medicare monstrosity, I'll remain rather cynical.  Did someone mention farm subsidies? riiiight.