I’m not a fan of Ron Paul, but compared to Paul Ryan, Ron Paul is at least consistent. Like much of the Democratic world, I think it’s awesomely hilarious that Romney chose Ryan as his running mate. I don’t have much to add to the great commentary already out there (see Ezra Klein and this roundup from FT Alphaville). So frankly, there’s little point in doing a full summary of Ryan’s positions. But it’s still fun!
Paul Ryan voted for Medicare Part D. He voted for the Bush tax cuts. And he voted for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. All of which were unpaid for and massively, massively blew up the deficit. Apparently voting for all this massive spending troubled his furrowed brow greatly, but not so much as to force him to vote against it.
Fresh off of blowing up our deficit, Ryan decided it’s a lot more fun to be a serious deficit hawk. Especially when you realize that nobody, least of all the media, checks your math to make sure it is accurate. So came into being the Ryan plan, which massively cuts taxes for the wealthy, makes huge, unspecified, and unrealistic spending cuts, and even after all of that, doesn’t even balance the budget! It would, however, end Medicare as we know it, replacing a guaranteed insurance program with a coupon (or voucher) that people could use to help pay for private insurance; if they are too sick or too poor to get private insurance, well, that’s just details.
Paul Ryan: deficit-enlarger, budget-mangler, millionaire-tax-cutter.
So what about social issues? He supports fetal personhood, an extremist anti-abortion and anti-birth control position that was too extreme even for the voters of Mississippi. Supports a total ban on abortion. Opposes gay marriage. In other words, he’s not at all different from Michele Bachmann.
But you know what’s the absolute worst thing about Paul Ryan? No, not that he’s a fan of Rage Against The Machine despite being as Machine as you can get. No, the worst thing is that Paul Ryan is an adult human who admires Ayn Rand. Sure, he has tried to distance himself from Rand lately, seeing as how atheist and Tea Party don’t go hand-in-hand, but he’s still there in spirit.
Sure, lots of people in the folly of their youth read Ayn Rand. I am not in a position to judge on this. However, most people soon realize that Ayn Rand’s theory of elitist condescension and delusions of self-grandeur are not a coherent political philosophy, let alone a way to go through life not looking like an asshole. Not Paul Ryan. He’s still hanging on, still railing at the moochers, still believing that if the collectivists would get out of the way, nerds like him would rule the world.
So for all these reasons, Paul Ryan is a great choice in my opinion. However he’s a dangerous choice at the same time.
He’s young, well-spoken, and most importantly, he knows that he can just make stuff up and the media will report it. This is the modus operandi of the Romney campaign so far, and there is little doubt that it will change, because they keep on getting away with it: Obama wants to curb the military vote in Ohio! Obama is cutting Medicare and Romney/Ryan won’t! Sure, some of these lies get “fact-checked” a few days later, but nobody is willing to flat out state that Romney and Ryan are making things up. So it will continue.
This race won’t come down to the issues: political campaigns rarely, if ever, do. What it will come down to is what people think of Romney and Ryan. Right now, the Ryan narrative in the media is that of an earnest Wisconsin kid who just wants to be an adult and balance the budget, despite all evidence to the contrary. Will this narrative change to reflect reality? That is the question.