Looks like Mitt Romney has
chosen a conservative that is going to fight to massively reduce the size of government and tackle entitlement reform. The election is now about the big issue of reducing the size of government. This is big news. The coming economic crisis has been avoided thanks to a bold move by Mitt Romney to pick a radical small government politician that is going to make things happen.
Of course there is always more than the shiny facade pimped by party loyalists and for those that have bothered to investigate Ryan's record the picture becomes a bit murkier.
For starters there is the very pressing and disturbing votes of the Bush legacy. Specifically Ryan's support of: TARP, Medicare Part D and No Child Left Behind (NCLB). All three are wonderful examples of how the Republican party only fights for fiscal sanity when they are a minority party, the second they become the majority they expand Government programs at an alarming rate. NCLB is a monstrosity that gave the Department of Education teeth, Medicare Part D tacked on hundreds of billions (half a trillion as of today per year) to the debt and was passed in the House in a manner very reminiscent to ObamaCare and TARP is an egregious disregard of the free market system and should make any citizen sick to their stomach.[...]
In order to understand that Ryan's budget is nothing more than smoke and mirrors we turn to a detailed analysis of the budget. This interactive analysis lets you compare and contrast the Ryan and Obama budgets side by side and examine the projects for spending. [...]
First we got Medicaid. Clearly the difference is notable and appreciable. In fact based on this image alone it would almost invalidate all my criticism of the Ryan budget. [...]
Next we have Medicare. What's this? Apparently Grandma is not going off a cliff, instead it would appear that she is being pushed up a hill! Ryan's plan spends MORE on Medicare than Obama.[...]
Next up is Social Security. No, it is not a graphical glitch. Ryan's plan does absolutely nothing for Social Security. Yet conservative websites and pundits swoon over Ryan like he is the next coming of Barry Goldwater, more on that later.[...]
Lastly, the national debt. This is probably not surprising, but after all the hoopla and all the bravado the end result is that the speed at which our fiscal apocalypse arrives is merely slowed down by a teeny weeny bit. [...]
The answer is quite simple. Romney and Ryan represent exactly the same problem even if one appears to be a moderate and the other appears to be an epic fiscal warrior. The Republican party fights for and pushes through the status-quo. The images you see up above and the Ryan record is the status-quo. No doubt about it.
Yet Romney is counting on the ignorance of Republican base to run with the facade of Ryan's conservatism. If that illusion holds then Ryan's image will invariably boost Romney's own image as many will view Romney's decision as courageous and bold despite Obama's willingness to distort Ryan's budget. In other words, you are witnessing a most fantastic and glamorous circus. A bad Hollywood movie, except that ending will be quite real and not something you can pause or turn off.[...]
However we all know what happens when politicians threaten the sacred cows of entitlement spending. They get destroyed. Barry Goldwater was America's last libertarian-Republican candidate and he was obliterated because he dared to speak up against Social Security. Barry's loss paved the way for the great society and the invention of Medicare and Medicaid. How ironic. Poll after poll shows that Americans refuse to accept changes to entitlement programs, despite their clamoring for someone to fix our debt.
They had me fooled for a little bit in thinking Paul Ryan was a small government conservative that is going to reduce the debt and reign in big government.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4uj59SMdbM&feature=player_embedded
ReplyDeleteSounds good to me.....
This is Paul Ryan's reasoning that he used to vote for TARP http://dailycaller.com/2010/02/14/paul-ryan-explains-his-votes-for-tarp-auto-bailouts-and-tax-on-aig-bonuses/#ixzz23WvrB44B
ReplyDeletePaul Ryan takes a step in the right direction, but from what I have heard several people say it does not go far enough and is too little too late. The Republican party is not the party of small government as history and especially recent history has shown to be the case. This is another commonly held misconception. It simply is not the case that the Republican party stands for small government and it is hard to accept this. It very very very hard for someone to overcome these misconception because of cognitive dissonance. It is very very very hard to change beliefs that you have held all your life.
I'm not sure that Paul Ryan's Tarp, Bailouts, and CEO bonus votes diminish his record. I would obviously have liked to see him vote NO on all, but he rationalizes it by pretty much saying he was picking the lesser of two evils; a policy that is sometimes necessary (like this year's election).
ReplyDeletePoliticians are inherently political. If you want a fundamental conservative in the White House, please go find him. I've never heard of one. I'm not sure we have ever had one in the White House but we still managed to become the greatest nation ever. Paul Ryan is good to go, but I would appreciate it if you keep attempting to diminish his record. I would like to know if there is something wrong with him. Given your post and comments, he is pretty immaculate thus far.
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ReplyDeletePaul Ryan said about TARP: "TARP. I’ll take one at a time. I believe we were on the cusp of a deflationary spiral which would have created a Depression. I think that’s probably pretty likely. If we would have allowed that to happen, I think we would have had a big government agenda sweeping through this country so fast that we wouldn’t have recovered from it. So in order to prevent a Depression and a complete evisceration of the free market system we have, I think it was necessary."
ReplyDeleteWhat did TARP lead to? What was TARP inherently?
The American people don't want a fundamental conservative and that is exactly why the nation is headed where it is. And what is considered a conservative postion is getting shifted to the left. 2o years from now you will be supporting and cheering along an "immaculate" candidate like Obama because "there has never been a fundamental conservative" and the other candidate will be even more of a communist. You need to save some Obama campaign posters and stickers so you can use them 20 years from now. Ryan's budget grows the government: "Average, The New Radical?
But Ryan's budget plan is far from radical.
His proposed spending and revenue levels are above historic averages. His Medicare reform has strong bipartisan support. His tax reform plan is similar to one proposed by Obama's own bipartisan debt reduction commission.
Ryan's budget, which passed the House last March, would set the federal government on course to spend an average of 20% of GDP over the next decade. That's slightly higher than the post-World War II average of 19.8%.
His tax plan would produce revenues averaging 18.3% of GDP. That, too, is somewhat higher than the 17.7% post-war average. What's more, Ryan's plan would set tax and spending rates higher than every Democratic president before Obama.
By this measure, what's radical is Obama's tax and spending plans.
His last budget, issued in February, would set federal spending over the next decade at 22.5% of GDP, on average, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
For context, federal spending reached or exceeded that level in only seven years out of the past 65 — and three of those were under Obama.
And Obama wants federal revenues to average 19.4% of GDP. That's higher than all but six of the past 65 years.
Democrats have also zeroed in on Ryan's Medicare reform plan, endlessly claiming that it will "end Medicare as we know it."
But under his plan, Medicare spending in the near term would track levels set by Obama. Unlike Obama, however, Ryan wouldn't use any of those near-term savings to finance ObamaCare, but would direct all that to extending the Medicare Trust Fund."
http://news.investors.com/article/622012/201208131805/ryan-budget-is-not-radical.htm?p=full
This size of government is not what has made America the greatest nation in history. Do you see what is happening? What is considered a conservative position is getting shifted to the left. Eventually someone like Obama will be a conservative 20 years or less down the road.
But there is nothing to worry about because things will continue to be exactly as they have been during the span of our long lifes. No big changes are coming. Nothing new.
The Ryan choice is very exciting news. Scary, but exciting. What this says is that Romney is embracing the Tea Party economic values. What this shows, is that candidates can change their beliefs (Ronald Reagan was a Democrat head of actor's labor union) over time and with influence from voters.
ReplyDeleteThis choice will totally fire up the base and move any conservative doubters about Romney into the fight. I mean this in the totally positive way: Paul Ryan is Sarah Palin with brains backing up the beliefs and beauty.
Two downsides: 1) It will be argued that, as a Legislator, he has no governing experience, just like Obama. However, as even Democrats have admitted by their own lack of a budget and 100% rejection of Obama's budget proposals, he is the only one in our entire federal government that has put out a credible Budget/Economic Plan of any sort.
2) Well, the same philosophy that wil fire up the base will also fire up the opposition base. But we are going to have the fight. One way or another. No one can say that Republicans are backing away from the economic fight.
As Jeff points out, the Ryan plan doesn't solve all our budgetary messes. He does sidestep the Medicare issue. But one step at a time. this is the best we can possibly hope for at this time.
Jeff, you continually point out that Republicans have been Big Government types too, but things change. Just like Reagan. The Republican party is QUICKLY transforming into the party of fiscal responsibility, just like the Tea Party is trying to make it be. You would have to go back to Calvin Coolidge at least to find a Republican party that is in line with what you would like to see. The drift of the party is towards Conservatism, not the other way. I would have said the same for the Democratic party too prior to Obama's election, so, no trend is guaranteed. But right now, Rightward for Republicans.
The country has a real choice now. Let's see what happens.
The government expanded under Ronald Reagan. The Republican party is not drifting to the right. They are still arguing for the status quo on medicare, medicaid, and social security. They are attacking Obama on medicare, medicaid?, because he CUT medicare funding. The Republican party does not stand for small government.
ReplyDeleteIn 20-30 years from now a politican with views smiliar to Obama will be considered the conservative choice and will be held up as an immaculate example of a conservative.
People not wanting to face reality reminds me of Russians who were arrested in the Soviet Union by the Organs or state police as portrayed in "The Gulag Archipelago". They happily went along with their captors saying in their heads "surely they have made a mistake and this will all get sorted out and I will be set free I haven't done anything wrong". Or one Soviet Army officer got arrested in the field and his captors got lost on the way to the intelligence office so the guy they arrested was asked to look at the map and guide them to the office. He obliged and was sent to the Gulags. The ability to deceive ourselves is very great. The people that survive tough situations face reality as opposed to hiding in a comfortable blanket of make believe.
Look at the unintended consequences of platic bag bans http://hotair.com/archives/2012/08/17/memo-to-greens-maybe-grocery-bags-should-be-disposable-for-a-reason/