Even Republicans Don’t Like the Ryan Budget

Lloyd Green

With his 2015 proposal, the Wisconsin congressman has gone and bitten the hands that feed him, making it unlikely he’ll be satisfied with his vote count come 2016.

Looking at Paul Ryan’s 2015 budget you might think that the Republican party base was simply a richer and younger America—and you’d be mistaken. But how else could you explain a budget that aims for balance by chivying the middle aged and the middle class, brands Medicare as “an open-ended, blank-check entitlement” (PDF)—as though Medicare was in the same league as league as welfare—and aims to cut Medicare spending by $129 billion?

From the vantage of demographics and exit polls, Ryan’s budget pokes a stick at the eye of the GOP’s older, working and middle class base. To be sure, Ryan offers Americans under 55 years old a subsidy to buy private health insurance and the “choice” of Medicare. But, Ryan commits the cardinal political sin of not offering the voters anything in return for stomaching his proposed cuts.

Yes, budgets may be statements of priorities, but in and of themselves they are not statements of persuasion. If a leader puts forth a vision of where the country needs to go, and the voters accept that vision, then the budget details will fall into place. The numbers will ride, as it were, on the coattails of the vision. But if the leader fails to gain acceptance, then the budget details are nothing more than wonk-trivia.

Seen in this light, Ryan doesn’t seem to be trying anymore. His proposals are focused on numbers and orthodoxies alone, while ignoring reality and the larger picture. It may be hard to believe, but less than two years ago Mitt Romney invited Ryan to join him on a national ticket. Then again, we know how that experiment turned out.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/08/even-republicans-don-t-like-the-ryan-budget.html