Ladies and gentlemen, Paul Ryan's and the Republican "solutions" to America's ills

‎"Under Ryan’s plan, the wealthiest 1 percent would get a massive tax break.

Meanwhile, Medicare would be privatized, leaving seniors with vouchers that could never keep up with rising health-care costs. It would slash programs helping struggling families stay afloat, such as food stamps and housing assistance, by nearly a trillion dollars over the next decade. Education and employment training — vital to our nation’s future — would be cut by a third. Ryan, whose great-grandfather founded a large road construction company, would spend 25 percent less than President Obama rebuilding our deteriorating infrastructure. And since gutting Medicaid and Medicare isn’t enough, he would also repeal the president’s health-care law, leaving tens of millions of people uninsured.

"Cue the fanfare."

"Recently, voters in focus groups refused to believe anyone would propose such a vicious plan. Back when the GOP retained a modicum of humanity, even many Republicans were shocked by how far Ryan went. In polls, people of both parties recoil from his proposal to end Medicare as we know it."

"It is a plan, as the recently-departed Gore Vidal said of Ayn Rand’s philosophy that so influenced Ryan, 'nearly perfect in its immorality.' Ryan’s extremism bleeds into social issues. He saluted the troops on the deck of the USS Wisconsin, but voted against repealing 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.' He has repeatedly voted for defunding Planned Parenthood and letting hospitals refuse emergency abortion care, even when a mother’s life is in danger. The right to love whom you want or to make decisions about your own body are not, apparently, among the rights that Ryan believes 'nature and God' gave us."

"In short, beneath that Ken doll head of hair, behind the carefully cultivated image of a brave pseudo-policy wonk, lies a cruel ideologue. And it’s Ryan’s GOP now."


—- Katrina vanden Heuvel

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-paul-ryan-cruel-not-courageous/2012/08/14/a2dbd388-e56b-11e1-936a-b801f1abab19_story.html

Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katrina_vanden_Heuvel

http://www.thenation.com/authors/katrina-vanden-heuvel