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Could Ryan's VP candidacy help BOTH parties to avoid addressing the jobs crisis? - Andy F - 10-14-2012 06:27 AM
The media commentators that I respect are mostly saying that Romney's choice of Paul Ryan for VP will make this year's election more POLICY-focused than US politics has been in many years.
Ryan & Romney stand for a radical Tea Party / Koch brothers vision of sharply limited government and pro-corporate tax policies, the saying goes. Obama and the Democrats stand for a much more New Deal tradition of extensive goverment involvement in such "entitlement" programs as Medicare & Social Security.
In theory, therefore, this election will supposedly present America voters with a clear choice between clashing "liberal" and "conservative" visions of the role of government in our mix-economy capitalist system.
But will an election that focuses on the rival approaches to Paul Ryan and Barrack Obama to Social Security & Medicare also have a conveninet side benefit for BOTH major parties -- namely, that the voters & the pundits will be distracted from the question of whether EITHER party has a good plan for reigniting US economic growth & actually curing high unemployment?
As a democratic socialist, my hunch is that the question of unemployment will be almost eclipsed over the next 2 months, as the 2 big capitalist parties argue furiously over whether Social Security and Medicare should be sacrificed on the altar of debt reduction.
What are your thoughts on Ryan and Ryan's contribution to the campaign, however? Are American voters capable of thinking about BOTH the entitlement program/ budget deficit tradefoff, AND the justice or injustice of the tax code, AND the pressing question of how the capitalist economies of the West can create enough jobs for everyone who wants one?
Or will we see both Democrats & Republicans sweeping the unemployment problem under the rug while the contending politicians focus solely on spending & entitlements?
- Judy - 10-14-2012 06:35 AM
This is the most clear and concise summary of the election rhetoric I have seen yet. Congrats! on actually understanding the policies as they really are. I am afraid you are quite right in thinking the unemployment problem will be sweep under the rug now that Ryan is the VP candidate. I have to wonder if that was the real reason for the Ryan choice, to turn the topic away from unemployment.
Does either party actually have a good plan for unemployment? My next question, is Congress going to change enough to get anything done for the next President?