I really like Paul Ryan. He\u2019s bright, articulate, and is showing some leadership on the budget. He has demonstrated an ability to circumvent the media to get his message across to the American people. At times I see flashes of Reagan, particularly in style.<\/p>\n
Ryan\u2019s roadmap is in many ways a breath of fresh air. The cuts are significant, especially when compared to the numbers debated in the recent government shutdown scare. If implemented, his plan would represent a marked improvement over the status quo.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s the dilemma? In a nutshell, Ryan\u2019s proposal is only modestly conservative. As the key Republican figure on the budget, Ryan has defined what will be viewed by many as the \u201cconservative position\u201d on fiscal matters. Instead of challenging socialism at its core, he seeks to \u201creform\u201d and modestly cut many of the programs introduced in the 1960s. In this sense, Ryan is giving Obama and the Democrats a victory by shifting the Republican response to the middle. The unfunded mandates associated with social security, Medicare, and Medicaid are massive. Ryan\u2019s plan doesn\u2019t address these programs aggressively. This is troubling.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a pragmatist. I realize that many of my fellow Americans are not as conservative (or libertarian) as I am, so I recognize the need to compromise. With a divided Congress and Obama in the White House, Ryan\u2019s roadmap might be seen as the best deal we can get at the moment\u2014a move in the right direction. But by recognizing the legitimacy of the welfare state\u2014albeit it slightly smaller one\u2014Ryan and the Republicans who follow him will be left to argue only about size and scope. This is a losing battle. The creeping acceptance of wealth redistribution as a legitimate function of government is a root cause of our economic decline. Sorry Mr. Ryan\u2014the current system doesn\u2019t need reform, it must be dismantled and reconstructed on a Constitutional basis. We need a lot more than you have proposed.<\/p>\n
So should we applaud the fact that someone in the Republican party is finally showing some leadership on the budget or should we lament the fact that Ryan\u2019s roadmap fails to adequately address the core problems? Should be celebrate Ryan\u2019s approach as politically feasible or conservative capitulation? I like Ryan, but I\u2019m just not on board with him yet. I\u2019m calling for conservatives in Washington to strengthen his plan before the Democrats start whittling it down. \u00a0I fear that many Republicans might not be up for the fight. I hope I\u2019m wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I really like Paul Ryan. He\u2019s bright, articulate, and is showing some leadership on the budget. He has demonstrated an ability to circumvent the media to get his message across to the American people. At times I see flashes of Reagan, particularly in style. Ryan\u2019s roadmap is in many ways a breath of fresh air. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}