When Dick Cheney Swatted an "Annoying Mosquito" Named Paul Ryan

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/When-Dick-Cheney-Swatted-a-by-John-Nichols-Dick-Cheney_Medicaid_Medicare_Paul-Ryan-140822-251.html



When Dick Cheney Swatted an "Annoying Mosquito" Named Paul Ryan
By John Nichols
OpEdNews Op Eds 8/22/2014 at 15:07:01

Paul Ryan has had his eyes on Social Security for a long time.

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The point of the congressman's book is to answer those questions. But Ryan never gets there. Instead, he bogs down in pop psychology and strategic talking points -- failing to recognize that Dick Cheney sorted it all out for him in 2001.

The American people do not want to reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as part of some austerity scheme to balance budgets on the shoulders of the elderly, people with disabilities and children whose families cannot afford healthcare. And despite all the scaremongering that underpins "entitlement reform" debates, they have come to recognize that they do not have to sacrifice in the way Ryan says they must.

Budgeting is all about priorities. Congress chooses which programs to preserve and which to diminish or dismantle. Congress also chooses whether to cover the costs by asking more from those who can afford to pay or to do so by shifting the burden to those most in need. The American people get this. And they want their leaders to respond to proposals to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid by saying, "Yeah, we're not going to do that."