Paul Ryan and His Plan

Paul Ryan released his budget plan today. Paul Ryan must come from a from a very Conservative district as he never worries about reelection. Thus he can float trial balloons which draw a distinction between the left and the right.

I agree with Paul Ryan on some things. Medicare, Medicaid and entitlement spending do need to be reigned in. Without that his idea on vouchers for Medicare will probably be a necessity. I would be interested to know did Ryan vote for George Bush's prescription drug plan. If he did then that is a vote he should explain. I have stated and will continue to say that the only answer to Medical costs is a single payer system but Americans have made themselves clear, they do not want that. Without that however no long term saving of Medicare and Medicaid will be possible. Again people will have to make a choice.

Where I disagree with Ryan and all Republicans is I am all for cuts but I am also for revenue increases. I favor a dollar for dollar approach. I also think that a proposal to balance the budget but increase defense spending immediately makes said budget foolish. I support the military, I encourage my boys to be in the military if they have interest, but the money pit that spends hundreds of millions on single plane or a billion on a helicopter has to stop. We are not facing the same threats we used to we could cut our military by at least a third and still be as well protected. Everyone knows this but of course the ability to call your opponent soft on defense is a political gold mine.

At some point people have to make decisions. Some of the same people who protest at Tea Party rallies collect Social Security and Medicare. Somewhere these is a reality check missing.

Paul Ryan deserves credit for putting his ideas out there. Democrats are guilty of grandstanding when they claim his budget is " Christmas " for their candidates in the fall. Let's debate any provision of it but lets not forget he is putting his ideas in the arena. What Democrat has done that?

In our house we try to teach the kids before you critique something you should have an idea of your own on how to address it. Maybe we should teach our politicians the same.