Vice presidential candidate would shred the safety net for the poor and middle class alike
11:04 a.m. EDT, August 11, 2012
Mitt Romney said he wanted to select a vice presidential candidate who had a vision for America, and that he did. In fact, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan likely beats out his prospective boss in the vision department, having provided the most concrete and detailed expression of how ultra-fiscal conservatism would actually transform our government. Unfortnately, the vision is the wrong one. Mr. Ryan's propsoals for the federal budget would end Medicare as we know it and decimate safety net programs for the poor, all while offering huge tax breaks for the wealthy and failing to meaningfully address the budget deficit.
Mr. Romney was widely expected to make a cautious choice for his running mate, and in a sense he did. Mr. Ryan is a known quantity in national politics and, unlike his party's last vice presidential nominee, he is unlikely to go rogue. He is familiar with the national media spotlight, and his record has already borne significant examination. But it is, in a sense, a much less cautious pick than former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was for Sen. John McCain four years ago. In one stroke, Mr. Romney has adopted wholesale a radical vision for downsizing the federal government in ways that would put millions of Americans at risk. Mr. Romney may have thus far tried to present himself as a pragmatic businessman, but in his first major decision, he put his stock in an ideologue.
Mr. Ryan couches his philosophy as an Ayn Randian faith in individual freedom and responsibility. But in practice, it amounts to a massive transfer of risk from the community to the individual. The most stark example is his plan to overhaul Medicare. Rather than preserving an entitlement program that offers everyone over 65 a set of benefits to preserve their health in old age, he proposes a voucher program in which seniors would get a fixed sum to purchase insurance in the private marketplace. What if you can't find the coverage you need for the amount the government is willing to pay? Tough luck. What if the cost of your insurance goes up? Tough luck again; one of the chief ways Mr. Ryan's plan reduces future budget deficits is by not building in sufficient Medicare cost adjustments. He would also raise the eligibility age to 67 while repealing the Affordable Care Act and its guarantee that consumers cannot be denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions, which could make it extremely difficult for many older Americans to find private insurance they can afford.
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