The Radical Republican Future of America - Part 1

Every party, when they initiate a campaign comes up with a game plan that is designed to please their base in the party. In most cases, parties all over the world work to convince voters who are not party faithful of how good their party's ideas will serve everyone.

Within the last two days, Mitt Romney announced that Paul Ryan will be his running mate. This was, presumably, intended to turn out the party faithful in Romney's party, which is currently fractured. That's right, fractured.
The Republican Party decided to attempt to co-opt the TEA Party and has allowed the radicals who run as TEA Party candidates on the Republican ticket. This is really foolish, as TEA Party representatives in Congress have caused considerable discomfort for House Speaker Boehner, as he cannot reliably make deals with either the Senate or the President and hope to keep them. Thus, he cannot hope to govern as long as he's being dictated to by the TEA Party.
Paul Ryan is a collegial, likable guy but, despite that, Democrats in the House of Representatives find that they cannot make deals with Paul Ryan. Ryan's plan for America is best expressed in his budget. Here are the details:

Starting in 2022, the proposal would end the current Medicare program for all Americans born after 1956 and replace it with a new program (still called Medicare) which uses a voucher and would increase the age of eligibility for Medicare.

Ryan's plan "replaces" Medicare and still calls what he replaces it with "Medicare." This is specifically meant to confuse people. This plan is not Medicare, make no mistake about it. Medicare was passed, and signed into law by a Republican President, Nixon, who—together with Congress—understood that the elderly were, increasingly, not being covered by traditional insurance at anything near an affordable rate for the Middle Class.

Ryan's "Medicare" is a voucher program. You're supposed to go out on the open market and find some insurance policy. And here's the problem with that:

Medicare is insurance that is not supposed to make money. The Profit Motive has been taken out. Instead, rather than make money off of seniors, we chose to make sure that seniors have dignity in their old age. Ryan says this offers "choice." But when you're 65, you don't want choice. You want security. Medicare as it is provides that.

Similarly, for the poor, Medicaid becomes block grants for the states. States can run their own programs. I can guess what the states will do: They'll funnel Medicaid grants into their "general fund" and spend it. States are strapped for cash, so they'll simply end Medicaid.

And today's Medicare would end for seniors who currently have it. Ryan proposes to re-open the "Donut Hole" created by the Bush Administration in Medicare Part D. So if you're a senior and are enjoying the fact that you're now paying less for drugs you need because of the Affordable Care Act and you're looking forward to 2020 when Medicare Part D's "Donut Hole" closes entirely, there will be no $250 rebate checks like the ones received in 2010 and there will be no more 50 percent discount on brand name drugs.

So Ryan calls this a "path to prosperity?" Not for seniors!

But that's Medicare. Let's talk Social Security.

Social Security, under Ryan's proposal is to end. He says he'll "keep it for those 55 and over," but for everyone below 55, they're out of the pool. Of course Ryan didn't actually suggest that the House of Representatives actually pass the end of Social Security, because he knew that representatives in the House would probably not get re-elected if they did that. Once again, I would refer you back to his new name for Medicare: "Medicare." He doesn't want voting seniors to actually get wind of what he plans for America.

When he says that the 55 and under are "out of the pool," he means it. He has decided that people should trust the big casino that is Wall Street with their "Social Security," which completely ends any security. We're not so foggy on history that we don't remember what happened in 2008, where people lost up to ⅔rds of their retirement savings. But here is the problem: Social Security does more than just pay old people in retirement. It also pays for the disabled. So if you are injured and your injury is permanent to the point where you have to leave the workforce, you get a Social Security Disability check. Every month. So, if you're 32, that security is ended.

But there is more: Social Security sends a check to every child of a veteran who dies in combat. So our brave soldiers sons and daughters receive a Social Security check every month until they are 18 or, if they attend College, until they are out of school. So, Congressman Ryan would ask every soldier serving in Afghanistan today to vote for an end to the security that their children will grow up taken care of, whether or not their parent died while serving their country.

Back when I was in High School, I read "Oliver Twist." This book, written by Charles Dickens, was meant to draw attention to the lives of English youth who were raised in uncaring orphanages and, when old enough, made to work in a workhouse for children. Sent to work for an undertaker, poor Oliver escapes and is recruited by a gang of criminals. Today, we read this book as fiction, not understanding that Dickens, himself, was an orphan and also not understanding the social implications of large quantities of orphans in society. During Dickens' time, many of these orphans were caused by the Napoleonic wars and the wars and rebellions that followed. Ryan's policy to leave orphans of soldiers who die, penniless and at the mercy of distant relatives in many cases is the most cruel piece of his "entitlement reform."

Together, with Social Security gone and Medicare done in, Ryan's plan changes America significantly. It makes America into a new nation. And I've seen nations like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney envision. You see, I have been outside of America. I have been to Latin America, south of Mexico. And the country Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney wants America to most resemble is El Salvador.

Ryan wants to end abortions. El Salvador has done that. In fact, if you are a woman and you have a miscarriage, there is an automatic investigation. You're guilty until proven innocent. You must, somehow, prove that you did not abort your child, else you will be sent to prison for up to 30 years. El Salvador also has no Social Security or Medicare. So if you're a man, look at the photo to the right.

That man is an elderly El Salvadorian man who begs on the street to get enough to eat. You see men like him everywhere in El Salvador because they don't have the social safety net that we have here in the United States. While this may be expected in a developing country, it is simply not what America means to me. I would just as soon my father, who is in his 80s, not need to beg for food on the street. Paul Ryan is, essentially, saying that this is perfectly OK in America. Because, if you trust your entire retirement to the Casino that is Wall Street, this is probable for you. And that's what Ryan wants. That is also what Romney says he wants (today—Romney has been on all sides of every issues, so one has to guess and I believe Romney's choice of a running mate is indicative of what he will want in the future).

Take a good look at that man. You're going to see him on the streets of Romney and Ryan's America. And, while you're looking at him, realize that Ryan and Romney won't ever face that. You see, Paul Ryan will receive a Congressional Pension, with healthcare guaranteed for his lifetime. And Mitt Romney is a billionaire with  Swiss and Cayman Island bank accounts.