Presidential elections are at some level always about the future: Think Winston Churchill being defeated on the cusp of victory in World War II, not because he didn’t lead Britain to victory, but because British voters looked to the future and for an end to wartime austerity and privation.
This year’s U.S. presidential election is also about the future, however. With Paul Ryan on the ticket, this election is not just about what the government should do – or not do – for the next four years; it is about what the government should not do for decades to come.
And according to Ryan, what the government should not -- and cannot do -- is to continue on the destructive path of deficits and debt upon which Barack Obama has placed it.
Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” budget plan is not a typical annual federal budget that tells the government how many pencils it can buy. It is a roadmap to returning America to economic greatness by eliminating the deficit spending and reducing the “overhead” of government that now consumes some $3.8 trillion a year from the U.S. economy.
To do this under the Ryan plan takes over 28 years -- that’s 15 congressional elections and 7 presidential elections.
Many conservatives, me included, gave Ryan some credit for having the gumption to at least propose a plan to get a grip on federal spending and eliminate the debt and deficit, but to us his plan was not the bold action required to save America from a fast-approaching Greek-like economic crisis.
Of course the notion that there might be real limits imposed upon federal spending is anathema to Democrats, who quickly labeled Ryan’s plan “radical” and began a sustained campaign to scare Social Security and Medicare recipients into voting against anything that smacked of reforming those programs.
Democrat “Medi-scare” campaigns and other senior citizen scare tactics have worked in the past because Republicans couldn’t coherently explain the need for reform and usually folded the first time they got a tough question or the unions ran an ad showing the GOP pushing granny off a cliff.
However, with Paul Ryan on the ticket that won’t be a problem. Ryan is an effective, passionate and eloquent spokesman for his plan and the need for spending reform.
What’s more, Republicans won’t be mired in a debate over how many pencils, or solar panels, or green cars the government should buy next year. The debate will be about where America goes for the next three decades.
Obama and the Democrats have no plan, except more of the same spending, debt and taxes that are starting to make America look like East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Being "the Party of the Future" is scary to many establishment Republican insiders and DC political consultants, who much prefer a content-free campaign fought on terms the media sets and with which the Democrats are entirely at home.
This of course was a recipe for defeat, because to win, Governor Romney has always needed to make his campaign all about a brighter economic future for Americans. However, Romney’s Chamber of Commerce-friendly message wasn’t really getting through the clutter or even exciting the Republican base until he chose Ryan as his running mate.
The choice of Paul Ryan as Governor Romney's running mate means that the campaign is now all about what America will look like for the next 30 years. It also means that the GOP not only looks like "the Party of the Future," it is ready to be "the Party of the Future," if the Romney campaign and the national GOP adopt the conservative policy ideas Paul Ryan has made foundations of his path to prosperity economic plan.
Incurable Richard
Here you go babbling nothings again. Ryan is no panacea for the republican ticket. He has alot of excess baggage, he is a hypocrite decries the stimulus package while at the same time with an extended hand to LaHood asking for those same funds.
You are right about one thing though Richard, Romney & Ryan both make a fine pair 1st class Flip-Floppers.
Romney, Ryan and Rand (Ayn)what have we done so wrong to deserve this Unholy Trinity. I've asked you before; are you sure you want to hitch your star to this unholy trio? YOU ARE DOOMED you are going to lose, you better find some other way to spend your time. You don't answer me but at least remember I told you so. I support Obama Go Obama Obama Obama
Obama is part of the machine too
If you support Obama, its like supporting Romney too.. The more things change, the more they stay the same.. real change will only come when the people finally change it. I don't see that happening until everyone gets up off of the couch and does something other than curse at the TV..
Selling our the 2012 election
It doesn't really matter WHAT Paul Ryan thinks or can explain articulately if ROMNEY doesn't stop putting his foot in his mouth! Romney was not my preferred candidate in this race, and I'm still holding out a tiny smidgen of hope that the Ron Paul faction will be able to introduce some fireworks at the convention. Most people have by now pretty much forgotten Romney's stupid remark in the debates that "I like to fire people" (at a time when unemployment is as high as the Great Depression). Few recall that the context of that remark was his explanation of giving people choices in insurance companies in the debate over how health care will be provided. He could just as easily have said, "I love competition! If one company doesn't meet my needs, I love being able to chose another." That was maybe 9 months ago.
I was energized and somewhat pleased with his choice of Ryan as running mate. Of course, my preferred choice was Allen West (who is also articulate and tells it like it is).It was bad enough that we knew Romney had no military experience, and Col. West could have complemented that shortcoming. But how many veterans of how many wars has Romney now offended with his remark that he "was too busy to serve in Vietnam"? I know one right close to me whose vote Romney has lost, and I wonder how many additional thousands he has lost with yet another foot-in-the-mouth remark.
In 2008, the RNC, with its pathetic choice of John McCain, essentially handed the election to Obama. Are we going to see a repeat of that in two more months? Why do I bother to go walk precincts, make calls, talk to HS students, register voters and work my butt off for this party if those at the top can't give us real choices of people who know and honor Constitutional principles?
Why can we not energize a big enough base of Constitutional Americans to get serious consideration of a candidate who offers us a REAL choice?
The GOP is on Crack
If you think for one minute that Paul Ryan is the future of the GOP, then you must be stoned. If the future of the GOP is big government fascism, then you're probably right. His voting record would then go along with that notion. Here's a run down of his accomplishments...
PAUL RYAN ON BAILOUTS AND GOVERNMENT STIMULI
.Voted YES on TARP (2008)
.Voted YES on Economic Stimulus HR 5140 (2008)
.Voted YES on $15B bailout for GM and Chrysler. (Dec 2008)
.Voted YES on $192B additional anti-recession stimulus spending. (Jul 2009)
PAUL RYAN ON ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS
.Voted YES on limited prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients. (Nov 2003)
.Voted YES on providing $70 million for Section 8 Housing vouchers. (Jun 2006)
.Voted YES on extending unemployment benefits from 39 weeks to 59 weeks. (Oct 2008)
.Voted YES on Head Start Act (2007)
PAUL RYAN ON EDUCATION
Rep. Ryan went along with the Bush Administration in supporting more federal involvement in education. This is contrary to the traditional Republican position, which included support for abolition of the Department of Education and decreasing federal involvement in education.
.Voted YES on No Child Left Behind Act (2001)
PAUL RYAN ON CIVIL LIBERTIES
.Voted YES on federalizing rules for driver licenses to hinder terrorists. (Feb 2005)
.Voted YES on making the PATRIOT Act permanent. (Dec 2005)
.Voted YES on allowing electronic surveillance without a warrant. (Sep 2006)
PAUL RYAN ON WAR AND INTERVENTION ABROAD
.Voted YES on authorizing military force in Iraq. (Oct 2002)
.Voted YES on emergency $78B for war in Iraq & Afghanistan. (Apr 2003)
.Voted YES on declaring Iraq part of War on Terror with no exit date. (Jun 2006)
.Voted NO on redeploying US troops out of Iraq starting in 90 days. (May 2007)
As far as I'm concerned, the GOP has sealed their fate. They've become a big government fascist party that clearly DOES NOT represent conservatism or the American people. They have lost me and my vote. I will never vote for and support any one that voted to make the Patriot Act PERMANENT nor will I vote for and support anyone else that wants to take away my freedoms and liberties and tax me into poverty!
If the GOP can't understand that then they must either 1) be retarded, or 2) controlled by control freaks with big money or 3) Both.