That means pandering to the max and that means buying votes with taxpayer dollars. Ergo any extra coin collected goes toward expanding unaffordable things, not curtailing them.

I certainly agree that fiscal responsibility has no built-in constituency. Both parties would rather devote resources into things that buy immediate love from voters: cutting taxes or increasing government services. Raising taxes in order to not provide more services is an unloved prospect.

But at some point, when the crisis has become acute, we run out of options. When the Congress is forced to choose between cutting benefits or raising taxes.

That's where I disagree with you, I think. In that situation, Congress isn't going to cut Medicare or Social Security. They'll raise taxes instead. So when you say:

There's no universe where a ruling democrat party takes additional tax money and applies it to solving fiscal problems.

...I think that's wrong. In a universe where the fiscal problems are so intense that they can't be ignored or put off anymore, then a governing Democratic party would choose to raise taxes rather than cut SS or Medicare.