A Clearly “Bad” Choice, Not an Echo

Romney has now given us a clear choice with his selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate.  It is a clearly bad choice.

• If you believe Medicare was a mistake and should be dismantled, Romney/Ryan is for you.  And don’t believe for a moment that you are protected from changes to Medicare because you are 55 or over.  Romney/Ryan want to convert Medicare to a voucher system but say that those 55 and over can keep traditional Medicare.  Don’t believe them.  A voucher option would create a two tier system.  Those 55 and over would have a traditional Medicare Defined Benefit.  Those under 55 would have a Defined Contribution plan that would not be anywhere close to matching the traditional Defined Benefit.  Those under 55 who are denied traditional Medicare won’t tolerate that 2^nd class status for long.  It won’t be long after Romney and Ryan implement their voucher plan before we will see demands for “fairness.”  Traditional Medicare will be taken away from those who have it.  They’ll be place in the same leaky boat as everyone else.  That WILL HAPPEN if we let Romney/Ryan dismantle Medicare.

• If you believe that Social Security was a mistake and want to dismantle it, the Romney/Ryan ticket is for you.  Romney/Ryan want to let younger workers opt out of traditional Social Security.  They say they want to “save” Social Security.  Social Security IS NOT in trouble.  The funds can be there for all with just a few minor changes such as very gradually raising the cap and/or the age for full retirement.  The big problem for Social Security is the declining number of workers paying in for the number of retirees.  Now, if that is the problem, does it make sense to REDUCE the number of workers paying into Social Security by letting some opt out?  No, it makes no sense.  Letting more workers opt out would guarantee that Social Security will run out of money to pay benefits FAST. 

• If you think banks and financial institutions should be de-regulated and allowed to perate anyway they wish, Romney/Ryan is for you.  Just remember that the major cause of the great recession we just experienced was the de-regulation of the financial industry that Republicans forced upon us under Bush.  We need MORE regulation of financial institutions, not less if we want to protect our economy and jobs from the greed of a few.

• If you think the Environmental Protection Agency isn’t needed and should be abolished, Romney/Ryan is for you.  Just don’t complain about having to drink polluted water and breath polluted air.  And when that nuclear accident occurs in the plant near you, don’t ask for help from the Romney/Ryan federal government.  You won’t get it.

• If you believe the Food Stamp program and other pieces of the social safety net like unemployment insurance are the wrong thing for the country and should be stripped of funding, even if that means some American children will starve, Romney/Ryan is for you.  Just hope you never lose your job or run out of money before you run out of life.

• If you think the rich is America are taxed too much and that their taxes should be driven as close to zero as possible, then Romney/Ryan is for you.  Just remember under their budget, YOU PAY for the tax cuts for the rich.

• If you believe the United States should abandon or severely roll back financial support for education, infrastructure improvement, financing of basic research and development and just about everything but national defense, then Romney/Ryan is for you.  Just learn to live with bad roads, unsafe bridges, bad schools, and a brighter future that will no longer be yours.

• If you believe that Obamacare should be repealed and that health insurance companies should be free to deny people coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and raise premiums at will, the Romney/Ryan is for you.  By-the-way, under the Romney/Ryan “end-Obamacare and convert Medicare to a voucher program plan” that voucher won’t be any good to you if you have heart problems, high blood pressure, are overweight, have diabetes or have any other pre-existing conditions because no insurance company will accept your medicare voucher.

• If you believe that the reforms of the Progressive Movement of the early 1900s that brought us child labor laws, occupational health and safety, the right of labor to organize, pure food and drug laws, anti-trust laws, the creation of our national parks, and so on were excessive government intervention with free market capitalism and should be rolled back or repealed outright, then Romney/Ryan are for you.

• If your hero is the atheist Ayn Rand and you agree with her that the individual owes nothing to society, that greed is good, compassion is weakness and that the worth of a human being should be judged totally by their net worth in dollars, then Romney/Ryan is for you.

Romney has made this election a choice between an American government that is good, decent, compassionate, devoted to protecting the weak and determined to provide a guarantee of a fair opportunity for all and an American government that turns its back on the majority of Americans, particularly workers, seniors, the poor and those most in need. 

Watch this video and learn what damage the Romney/Ryan ticket will do if elected or go here: http://www.youtube.com/embed/oWyk-Mr6cfc/