Conventional wisdom has long told us that meaningful Medicare reform is the third rail of politics. So when Paul Ryan proposed the Republican budget containing serious and well thought out and effective reforms of Medicare, it is no surprise that it made headlines and launched a tsunami of criticism from the left.The dispicable ads, including the granny off the cliff posted on this site earlier this week are unfortunate but not unexpected.
What is surprising is that after an overwhelming victory in the house the House Republican Budget started receiving some less than enthusiastic support by establishment types like Mitch McConnell and of course the full assault by the dinosaur Newt Gingrich which he has since issued a retraction and instructed the American people do disregard the statement, I’m not exactly sure how that works but I’ll save that for another post.
We have the old guard, even when faced with the collapse of medicare with this decade, afraid to act while Paul Ryan, who represents the future of the Republican party, boldly proposed and is aggressively advocating for real Medicare reform which will give seniors the power to deny business to inefficient providers, while the Democratic plan is to give government the power to deny care to seniors. These career politicians are conditioned to avoid tough choices and kick the can down the road even when we have come to the end of the road.
The American people do understand that the status quo is no longer an option and they have known it for some time now. The major impetus of the tea party movement was the recognition that this country is in a huge hole and the only two solutions being proposed were digging deeper or kicking the can down the road.
The American people understand that adding four billion dollars a day to our debt is unsustainable. The American people understand that without significant spending cuts and reform of our entitlement programs our debt will continue to explode and destroy our economy. The American people understand that with 10,000 baby boomers a day becoming eligible for Medicare and Social Security, those programs are unsustainable without serious reform.
With so much on the line this is no time for timidity, Paul Ryan is willing to lead and if the Republican leadership is to take the Senate and the White House in 2012 they should follow Mr. Ryan’s lead.
Disrupt the Narrative 
P. Henry Saddleburr
May 22, 2011 at 3:33 pm
I like the fact that Ryan threw the fact that the Dems haven;t passed a budget in over 700 days and ties them directly to the ‘crisis’ everyone recognizes that we’re in.