This Mitt Romney means business in more than one sense of the word. He has just chosen the most businesslike member of Congress as his running mate. Not only is Paul Ryan a serious man a man of ideas but hes had the courage to put them into specific form complete with numbers and goals and let the American people be the judge. And invite the opposition to take its best shot.
This must be why Paul Ryan is regularly described as controversial which is supposed to be a criticism. As if anybody with ideas convictions and the courage to fight for them wouldnt be controversial. Ronald Reagan was controversial too. So was Winston Churchill who could recognize a mounting danger when he saw one. It was Neville Chamberlain who was the safe choice when of course his kind of safety was the riskiest course of all to follow.
It was only fitting that Paul Ryans selection for the vice-presidential slot on his partys ticket should be announced aboard a battleship -- the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk harbor. The man fights for what he believes and at least as important explains just how he would put those beliefs into practice. And turn this country around. Back to basic ideas -- prudence patience economy constancy of purpose faith in freedom....
Putting out clear ideas complete with goals and numbers is no way to court public favor. Not when cagier politicians stick with platitudes take no chances drift with the times. But not Paul Ryan of Janesville Wis. A seven-term congressman hes chairman of the House Budget Committee which figures. Hell be the only candidate on a national ticket whos actually proposed a serious detailed federal budget within the past three years. This president certainly hasnt let alone passed one.
The federal government continues to operate budgetless under this president which is clear enough from the record $15-trillion-plus national debt. Somethings got to give but all our president seems to do is give speeches the gist of which is that its all somebody elses fault usually those dratted Republicans.
Paul Ryan dares talk not just sense to the American people but dollars-and-cents. As in the Ryan Plan. You may not like what you hear -- fiscal reality isnt always easy to face. You may not agree with his ideas but theres no denying hes been up-front about them. Clear specific detailed. Nor is there any denying where the country is headed if current trends continue. Right over a fiscal cliff.
Fiscal trends arent just fiscal in their effect. They have social political and moral consequences. Essential programs -- from defense to Social Security and Medicare and everything in between -- grow unsustainable. Passing on vast debt to future generations isnt just irresponsible but immoral. Wasnt there a time when the purpose of government in America was to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity -- but who now mentions posterity or considers the size of the burden were saddling it with?
Instead were supposed to settle for things as they are and are becoming to act as if theres really nothing to be done but to stay the disastrous course. Thats not Paul Ryans way never has been. Which is why hes been a constant affront all these years to those politicians who would rather drift than reverse course. As he put it aboard the Wisconsin when he made his first appearance as his partys vice-presidential nominee to be:
No one disputes President Obama inherited a difficult situation. And in his first two years with his party in complete control of Washington he passed nearly every item on his agenda. But that didnt make things better. In fact we find ourselves in a nation facing debt doubt and despair. This is the worst economic recovery in 70 years. Unemployment has been above 8 percent for more than three years the longest run since the Great Depression....
Whatever the explanations whatever the excuses this is a record of failure. President Obama and too many like him in Washington have refused to make difficult decisions because they are more worried about their next election than they are about the next generation. We might have been able to get away with that before but not now. Were in a different and dangerous moment. Were running out of time. ... I hear some people say that this is just the New Normal. High unemployment declining incomes and crushing debt is not a new normal. Its the result of misguided policies.
Anyone can sense how this administration has failed and is now only flailing how it is substituting the politics of resentment for the politics of ideas personal attacks for civil discourse. Hope and Change gave way some time ago to fear and inertia.
But some of us still believe in the American Dream and we dont believe that America was built by some vague collectivity -- rather than individuals with their own individual ideas talents dedication successes and yes failures.
For whatever America is now or will be in the future whatever it has meant or will mean we built it not some blank collection of Julias that cartoon figure the Obama campaign has chosen to represent the American people. Much like Julia we are to be assured of security from the cradle to the grave and guaranteed a life unmarked by struggle protected at every stage of a cushioned existence from the dangers and terrors of freedom.
The message of Julias story is clear enough: Who would want to subject this poor girl to the rigors of life in the wilderness where theres no guarantee of safety where wild beasts prowl and she might have to find her own way cross deserts and climb mountains and worst of all make her own decisions? Better to stick with the fleshpots of Egypt and know shell always be taken care of. Why take risks? Better to accept what is and drift.
Paul Ryan says different thinks different. He understands that the safety net so long and arduously built by previous generations is now endangered not by some direct frontal assault but by the slow creep of our own dependence on government for all the answers. We grow passive in the warm embrace of bureaucracy with more of the same ahead. This has been going on for years now. Do you like the results? Theyre certainly plain to see. Or have you had enough?
This election year the American people have been given a choice not one more echo of a failed policy. Paul Ryan made his choice years ago. The American people will make its Tuesday November 6.
Paul Greenberg Pulitzer Prize-winning Paul Greenberg one of the most respected and honored commentators in America is the editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
This Mitt Romney means business in more than one sense of the word. He has just chosen the most businesslike member of Congress as his running mate. Not only is Paul Ryan a serious man a man of ideas but hes had the courage to put them into specific form complete with numbers and goals and let the American people be the judge. And invite the opposition to take its best shot.
This must be why Paul Ryan is regularly described as controversial which is supposed to be a criticism. As if anybody with ideas convictions and the courage to fight for them wouldnt be controversial. Ronald Reagan was controversial too. So was Winston Churchill who could recognize a mounting danger when he saw one. It was Neville Chamberlain who was the safe choice when of course his kind of safety was the riskiest course of all to follow.
It was only fitting that Paul Ryans selection for the vice-presidential slot on his partys ticket should be announced aboard a battleship -- the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk harbor. The man fights for what he believes and at least as important explains just how he would put those beliefs into practice. And turn this country around. Back to basic ideas -- prudence patience economy constancy of purpose faith in freedom....
Putting out clear ideas complete with goals and numbers is no way to court public favor. Not when cagier politicians stick with platitudes take no chances drift with the times. But not Paul Ryan of Janesville Wis. A seven-term congressman hes chairman of the House Budget Committee which figures. Hell be the only candidate on a national ticket whos actually proposed a serious detailed federal budget within the past three years. This president certainly hasnt let alone passed one.
The federal government continues to operate budgetless under this president which is clear enough from the record $15-trillion-plus national debt. Somethings got to give but all our president seems to do is give speeches the gist of which is that its all somebody elses fault usually those dratted Republicans.
Paul Ryan dares talk not just sense to the American people but dollars-and-cents. As in the Ryan Plan. You may not like what you hear -- fiscal reality isnt always easy to face. You may not agree with his ideas but theres no denying hes been up-front about them. Clear specific detailed. Nor is there any denying where the country is headed if current trends continue. Right over a fiscal cliff.
Fiscal trends arent just fiscal in their effect. They have social political and moral consequences. Essential programs -- from defense to Social Security and Medicare and everything in between -- grow unsustainable. Passing on vast debt to future generations isnt just irresponsible but immoral. Wasnt there a time when the purpose of government in America was to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity -- but who now mentions posterity or considers the size of the burden were saddling it with?
Instead were supposed to settle for things as they are and are becoming to act as if theres really nothing to be done but to stay the disastrous course. Thats not Paul Ryans way never has been. Which is why hes been a constant affront all these years to those politicians who would rather drift than reverse course. As he put it aboard the Wisconsin when he made his first appearance as his partys vice-presidential nominee to be:
No one disputes President Obama inherited a difficult situation. And in his first two years with his party in complete control of Washington he passed nearly every item on his agenda. But that didnt make things better. In fact we find ourselves in a nation facing debt doubt and despair. This is the worst economic recovery in 70 years. Unemployment has been above 8 percent for more than three years the longest run since the Great Depression....
Whatever the explanations whatever the excuses this is a record of failure. President Obama and too many like him in Washington have refused to make difficult decisions because they are more worried about their next election than they are about the next generation. We might have been able to get away with that before but not now. Were in a different and dangerous moment. Were running out of time. ... I hear some people say that this is just the New Normal. High unemployment declining incomes and crushing debt is not a new normal. Its the result of misguided policies.
Anyone can sense how this administration has failed and is now only flailing how it is substituting the politics of resentment for the politics of ideas personal attacks for civil discourse. Hope and Change gave way some time ago to fear and inertia.
But some of us still believe in the American Dream and we dont believe that America was built by some vague collectivity -- rather than individuals with their own individual ideas talents dedication successes and yes failures.
For whatever America is now or will be in the future whatever it has meant or will mean we built it not some blank collection of Julias that cartoon figure the Obama campaign has chosen to represent the American people. Much like Julia we are to be assured of security from the cradle to the grave and guaranteed a life unmarked by struggle protected at every stage of a cushioned existence from the dangers and terrors of freedom.
The message of Julias story is clear enough: Who would want to subject this poor girl to the rigors of life in the wilderness where theres no guarantee of safety where wild beasts prowl and she might have to find her own way cross deserts and climb mountains and worst of all make her own decisions? Better to stick with the fleshpots of Egypt and know shell always be taken care of. Why take risks? Better to accept what is and drift.
Paul Ryan says different thinks different. He understands that the safety net so long and arduously built by previous generations is now endangered not by some direct frontal assault but by the slow creep of our own dependence on government for all the answers. We grow passive in the warm embrace of bureaucracy with more of the same ahead. This has been going on for years now. Do you like the results? Theyre certainly plain to see. Or have you had enough?
This election year the American people have been given a choice not one more echo of a failed policy. Paul Ryan made his choice years ago. The American people will make its Tuesday November 6.
Paul Greenberg Pulitzer Prize-winning Paul Greenberg one of the most respected and honored commentators in America is the editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
