You have to wonder about the level of Mitt Romney's desperation to select Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate. By all accounts, Mr. Ryan seems like a nice all-American guy: former McDonald's employee, waiter, and personal fitness trainer. But all of these ordinary working class jobs Ryan held in his youth do not cover the fact that he is aiding and abetting the most extraordinary financial heist in U.S. history.
The author of the Ryan Budget, a scheme that House Republicans have voted for, Paul Ryan seeks to close the national debt by dismantling New Deal and Great Society systems like Social Security and Medicare that help the aged, disabled and infirm; cutting funding for education and other programs that help build the middle class; and reducing services for the children and the poor. In other words, tearing these systems apart brick by brick in the name of "fiscal responsibility." At the same time, the Ryan Budget gives more tax privileges to wealthy individuals and corporations. In short, his plan shifts public resources, including systems that workers have self-funded, from main street to Wall Street.
This is outright fiscal fraud that, coming on the heels of twin housing and financial crises that ripped off ordinary citizens, would amount to grand theft of the public treasure on behalf of oligarchs like Mitt Romney, hedge fund billionaires, and Wall Street millionaires.
The tragedy of this fraudulent scheme is that so called "public servants" like Paul Ryan claim to be offering solutions on behalf of the entire country when they are only serving the interests of the wealthy. Needless to say this approach will only prove to make the rich richer while leaving middle and working class Americans mired in the wreckage of a nation that once cared about the economic and health security of its children and families.
So voters will have a clear, if not unsatisfying, choice in this election season. They can elect Republicans who want to take away New Deal and Great Society systems like Medicare, Social Security and public education to cover the costs of ill-conceived Bush era policies while at the same serving up new customers for for-profit health, financial, and education companies who stand ready to gain from desperate Americans forced to purchase private services previously provided through the public sector.
Or they can elect Democrats, led by President Obama, who have expressed a commitment to protecting middle and working class Americans even as some leading members seem willing to tarnish their party's important legacy by tinkering with cuts to New Deal and Great Society programs in exchange for modest revenue increases like closing corporate tax loopholes.
Whatever your choice, one thing is clear: the U.S. is in dangerous and uncertain territory. The nation has a moribund economy with high unemployment and growing poverty rates, short-term deficits and long term debt, and a populace that needs financial and health security perhaps more so now than ever before. This is a toxic political, economic, and social mix that requires solutions-oriented leadership that is willing to get our economy back on track, address wealth and income disparities, defend the appropriate role of government in providing important health and income security services, and implement fair fiscal reforms that avoid making middle class Americans and their children suffer to advance the interests of for-profit corporations and the wealthy.
There are progressive leaders, like Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, who have developed workable plans that meet these criteria. But you haven't heard about them or their plans from leading politicians or in the mainstream media, which has been all too willing to ignore progressive fiscal alternatives in favor of reinforcing conservative plans. Media coverage of alternative fiscal options has been so lopsided that it's worth launching an investigation of our media investigators to determine the ideological makeup of those who get the most access to newspaper editorial board members on these issues.
Despite campaign rhetoric to the contrary, there seem to be few truly progressive options on the national ticket in the upcoming November elections. However, there is a chance to pressure Democrats to uphold the traditional values of their party, which polls show have become the ethos of our nation. It is a fact that Americans from all backgrounds -- red and blue states, conservatives and liberals -- believe in the promise of Social Security, Medicare, and quality public education. And, most importantly, Americans have shown that they are willing to pay for these systems because of their importance for individuals, families, and our society.
Republicans like Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and Trojan Horse Democrats would be wise to heed the words of one Tea Party sage who held up a sign at a rally in 2009 saying, "Keep Your Government Hands Off My Medicare!" Although mocked as an ignoramus at the time, the Tea Partier's sign conveyed an enduring truth: those who hold public office should be bound to uphold the public trust. In the eyes of Americans, these systems, which they pay for and are codified in U.S. law, are sacred no matter who's in office.
Dr. Maya Rockeymoore is President and CEO of Global Policy Solutions, board chair of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and co-chair of the Commission to Modernize Social Security.
Follow Dr. Maya Rockeymoore on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mayarockeymoore
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 |
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
The Democrats want to preserve medicare and social security, recognizing it's value to seniors. They have provided health care to 30 MILLION people who don't have it and will keep it available to all. They will fund public education so that our future generation will be able to compete in the world. They have promised to equalize the tax burden by ensuring that the rich FINALLY pay their fair share!
So lets review: GOP gives aid to the rich at the expense of the seniors and middle class. Democrats aid the middle class, seniors and youth. Some of this will come at the expense of higher taxes on those making >$250,000. OBAMA IN 2012!
Great article!
P.S. - can't wait till the public send Ryan back to slinging burgers at McDonalds!
SMH...sadly.
Desperate Is As Desperate Does
Speaking of desperate, I have to ask you a couple of questions about such a topic?
Who is desperate when their campaign uses a prop like Sandra Fluke to distract women from the true issues and the record of the president.
Who is desperate when their campaign uses a bitter old unemployed man to tell a story that is not accurate as a spring board for a personal attack on their opponent?
Who is desperate when their campaign have surrogates like you Maya, in charge of some obscure organization with a friendly name operating in the name of the public write an article for a progressive leaning news outlet that speaks nothing of the true issues or the president's record.
If choosing an intelligent and sincere man who is willing to tackle the tough problems at the expense of his own popularity is desperate; then what do you call a president that runs around the country like a movie star telling everyone how great he is for the country attending over 125 fund raising events, since January, never discussing his record or having met with his job council once while in the middle of a economic and employment crisis?
Warm regards,
Michael Winters
Your Democratic rhetoric is old and misleading. It cries lies to the poor and people like you feed this base with unhealthy and misleading viewpoints. One thing seems certain and that is your inability to see true progressive thinking, not viewpoints that agree with your own.
People can hate and vilify the Republicans as much as they want and (there is plenty to dislike about all politicians on both sides of the aisle) and they don't have to vote for them, but pundits like this author are profoundly misleading. The choice is not Vote Republican and social programs will be cut and vote Democrat and they won't. The choice is to recognize that as much as we might wish otherwise politicians have made promises that they cannot possibly keep and that one way or another social programs will be cut. Lots of other things have to be cut as well and taxes should be raised, but apparently intelligent people like Dr Rockeymoore should look at the fiscal reality and tell the truth instead of telling everyone who will listen that everything will be ok
And your facts are....????
"What makes you think the Rich want to ruin social programs for the middle class..."
You really need to look at the Ryan Budget, and I think you'll answer your own question.
I'm a middle-class worker who has saved for a very long time so I can be comfortable (hopefully) in retirement. Do you actually think I want SS, Medicare and Medicaid to go away and to greatly disturb my expectations? Seniors and those in need have NO opportunity to make up any shortfalls, but to do nothing is suicide. I know that if I spent like the government, I wouldn't have a dime to my name. Believe me, I prayed that half my SS taxes would be privatized so politicians wouldn't haven control over all my money.
Somewhere along the line we need to dig deep, accept some sensible cuts, raise some taxes and stop telling people that Obama walks on water.
I could go on..
If Obama really thought his "accomplishments" were what voters wanted, he would be touting them in ads and at stump speeches, but we hear not much of it at all. His focus has been on denigrating and attacking Romney. The best evidence that he hasn't accomplished much is that he is not talking about what he has "accomplished."
The Ryan plan is a financial heist, and a downright scam, by the rich to steal from the working persons and the poor.
The deficit was caused by the reckless unnecessary war that made the Halliburton company and private mercenary groups richer than the dreams of avarice, and by the tax breaks and loopholes to the corporations and the rich, and by the stealing of pension funds and government bail outs by the illegal derivative deals connected to the housing market. Those are the groups that should be taxed to make up the deficit, not the poor and the working class, who were required to put their money into social security and medicare with a promise that they would receive the benefits.
WAKE UP REPUBLICANS. YOUR PARTY HAS BEEN HIJACKED BY THE SUPER-RICH. YOU ARE BEING USED. DON'T BE A CHUMP. WAKE UP !!