Election 2012: Amerikas Wahl / America's Choice

We Americans now owe Mitt Romney a debt of gratitude for selecting Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his ruuning mate.  Up to now, Romney has been deliberately vague about his plans should he win the White House, as he's tried to appease the Tea Party zealots while reaching out to moderate and independent voters.  But now, with the choice of Paul Ryan, Romney presents Americans with a clear choice for the future of the republic.  Ryan will accelerate the nation's progress to becoming a perfect oligarchy; there is nothing vague about his plans at all.  The vision is outlined for all to see in his Roadmap for the Future, endorsed by Mitt Romney and virtually every other Republican politician. 

Ryan is a follower of the radical libertarian huckster Ayan Rand, and as such views America's (already threadbare) social safety net programs with disdain.  His plan, which he trumpets at every opportunity, is to cut the tax burden on the wealthy Americans by $4 trillion over time;  this wealth transfer from the middle class to the rich would be paid for by eviscerating every conceivable public program, from food stamps, to public education, to Medicare and Social Security.  The beneficiaries would be people like MItt Romney, who made $millions at Bain Capital by shipping American jobs to China and India, and then hoards his wealth in Swiss Bank accounts and other offshore tax havens like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. 

Yes the choice for November 2012 could not be any clearer.  Here is the view of Der Standard - Klare Wahl für die USA:

Auch Romneys Wirtschaftsprogramm ist erzkonservativ. Aber im Vorwahlkampf hat er sich immer wieder etwas moderater gegeben als seine republikanischen Rivalen. Mit Ryan an seiner Seite ist diese Option versperrt: Der junge Abgeordnete ist der intellektuelle Kopf hinter einem radikal-liberalen Programm im Sinne der Tea Party, das Amerikas ohnehin spärlichen Sozialstaat komplett abbauen würde.

(Romney's economic policy is very conservative.  But during the primaries he presented himself as more moderate than his Republican rivals. With Ryan at his side that option is eliminated:  The young Congressman is the intellectual force behind a radical-libertarian policy endorsed by the Tea Party, which would tear down what is left of America's frayed social programs.) 

And choosing Paul Ryan as a running mate also carries significant risks for Romney and for the Republicans in November, as the Handelsblatt points out:

Und dennoch geht Romney mit der Personalie Ryan ein hohes Risiko ein. Denn wer konkret wird, wird angreifbar. Obama wird sich deshalb lustvoll in seinen Wahlkampfreden auf all die Grausamkeiten stürzen, die sich der Vize-Kandidat in seinem Plan ausgedacht hat. Er wird Ryan wie auch schon Romney als den Totengräber der Mittelschicht darstellen, als Anti-Robin-Hood, der den Armen nimmt und den Reichen gibt. In ersten Reaktionen freuten sich die Demokraten bereits auf den Kampf.

(Picking Ryan carries a high risk for Mitt Romney, since you become a target once your policies become concrete.  Obama will be sure to pounce on the cruelties contained in the vice presidential candidate's plan.  He will portray Ryan along with Romney as a gravedigger of the middle class, as the anti-Robin Hood who takes from the poor to give to the rich. Democrats will relish this fight. )

WIth Paul Ryan on the Republican ticket, Americans will have the opportunity in November to bury the Tea Party once and for all. 

Comments

[Jake]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-73ll08GJzX8/UCbDAyE-hYI/AAAAAAAAASI/KlwHaG4XIVA/s1600/RR+dumb+and+dumber.jpg

Who'd thought, somebody could make G.W. look smart.

[David]

Love it!