Monday, August 13, 2012
tjc - thoughts on the Ryan selection
Mitt Romney is a pragmatist (a pragmatist: someone willing to compromise his beliefs to achieve a goal; the end justifies the means). Thus, in the end, he stands for very little. That's one (only one) reason why his campaign has floundered.
Obama is a pragmatist too, however has appeared, conveniently, at a time when his ideology coincides with an important fact about taxation:
In the USA today, in round numbers, the number of people receiving services (for free) is finally greater than the number of people paying for those services. This is a tipping point in a democracy, because pandering to the 'receivers' generally wins.
Consequently, i expected Obama to win (so do the UK odds-makers who are allowed to pursue this commercially).
With the selection of Ryan, the Republican ticket has someone aboard who has a view of government that differs at a fundamental level (it's proper purpose) with the Democrats and Republicans.
The optimistist in me hopes that this will result in a national debate on what the proper role of government should be, and how it should be funded.
Prior to the Ryan selection, this would have been another ho-hum Dem/Repub, you pick-um because they are the same, both wanting a huge social-democracy and only arguing about how much to spend and on which favorite program.
Now at least, there is a chance, perhaps a small chance, that someone will bring the debate back to fundamentals.
[Risk alert! that this will become a debate about budgets-only, as Ryan is the 'budget guy'; in which case, the country will lose an important opportunity to discuss what it wants to be and how. And in this respect, Romney as pragmatist may be his own undoing. ].
I accept that the USA is far from the Republic envisioned by the forefathers. Operating as a Democracy, the people have the right to vote for any path they choose.
If that choice is a European-like Social Democracy, so be it. I'd just like the debate to take place. Can Ryan's selection help that happen? What do you think?
