He’s all over the cable news shows talking about hisdeficit reduction plan, “Roadmap for America’s Future.” ConservativeGeorge Will recently wrote a column forecasting him as the 2013 Republican vicepresident of the United States. Even President Barack Obama singledout Ryan as a pleasant guy with a nice family.
Actually, that last item should be the tip-off thatall is not what it seems.
When was the last time Democrats were so eager topush a young Republican Congressman forward as a national figure? It’s almostas if they can’t wait to start a national debate on Republican budgetproposals.
That’s because Ryan’s so-called “Roadmap forAmerica’s Future” is so chock full of politically toxic ideas Democrats wanteveryone in the country to know exactly what would happen if Republicans evergot back into powerincluding privatizing Social Security so those retirementfunds could be lost just like our 401(k)s were, dismantling Medicare andreplacing it with a limited voucher program as unreformed health insurancecosts continue to rise, and eliminating the top income tax brackets so thatmillionaires and billionaires would pay exactly the same rate as someone making$50,000 a year.
How about this one? Repealing all corporate taxesand replacing them with a consumption tax consumers would have to pay on everysingle thing they buy.
So far, Ryan appears clueless as to the real reasonhis ideas are getting so much attention. He’s flattered by the spotlight anddancing in it for everything he’s worth.
Of course, it’s easy to be misled by a fawning localmedia that seems star-struck by a “Kennedyesque” Wisconsin Congressman onnational television. Few Wisconsin reportershave bothered to explore just how radical Ryan’s right-wing proposals are.
Then again, in an age of superficial media, maybe noone will get around to reporting just how bad some of Ryan’s ideas are forordinary Americans. Maybe it’s enough to be young and good-looking ontelevision.
Certainly, Ryan is a prettier face for theRepublican Party than all those sour old men who form the current leadership.Every time the TV cameras sweep over their glowering faces during a “State ofthe Union” address, it’s like all of the airhas been sucked out of that side of the room.
Some think Republicans are glad to have Ryan topoint to right now to refute the criticism their party doesn’t have any ideas.All anyone knows about Republicans is that they are against whatever thepresident wants to do.
Reform health care? No! Create jobs? No! Stop thecollapse of the nation’s financial system? No! Prevent American carmanufacturers and all related employers from going out of business? No! Pull usback from the brink of another Great Depression? No!
In an economic crisis, maybe Republicans figure it’sbetter to have bad ideas than no ideas at all.
Even though not very many Republicans are comingforward to publicly embrace Ryan’s radical proposals going into the 2010elections, they have trouble explaining exactly where they disagree with him.That’s because they don’t.
Same Old Beliefs
Ryan is a true believer. He really believes indestroying Social Security and Medicare and slashing taxes for the wealthy.Those aren’t new ideas. They are very old Republican ideas.
Republicans have opposed Social Security andMedicare as socialism since their creation by Democratic Presidents FranklinDelano Roosevelt in the ’30s and Lyndon Johnson in the ’60s.
That makes Ryan far more honest than thosehypocritical Republicans who pretended to be concerned Democratic health carereform would cut Medicare for seniorswhich it wouldn’t. Republicans routinelyvote to cut Medicare.
But being honest about dismantling Medicare doesn’tmake the effect any less devastating. Everyone agrees Medicare has been anextremely well-run program, at least until Republicans added a confusingprescription drug plan that was really a boondoggle for private insurancecompanies.
Ryan would replace it with a voucher for a fixedamount that seniors could use to buy private insuranceanother boondoggle forthe insurance industry.
Without health care reform, a voucher would buy lesscoverage for seniors all the time. The major health insurance companieshavingavoided reform so far with the Republican election in Massachusettsjust announced whoppingpremium increases up to 39% despite increasing their profits by billions lastyear.
The reason Democrats are so eager to talk aboutRyan’s “Roadmap” is they know where it leads.
President George W. Bush’s attempt to privatizeSocial Security at the start of his second term created such widespread publicopposition that it led to the Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.
Putting a pretty, new face on Bush’s disastrouseconomic policies doesn’t make it a road map to anywhere America wantsto go.
