Paul Ryan’s America

What’s not to like about Paul Ryan? He’s a young, handsome, engaging, articulate, hard-working politician, a devoted family man and a practicing Catholic who says he lives his faith and has been called “an intellectual leader of the Republican Party.” He’s also running for Vice-President, which makes his views all the more critical to the national electorate. So, it behooves us, as voters with inquiring minds, to try to understand exactly what Ryan stands for as a politician and what he would like to accomplish. So, let’s go to his documented record.

Ryan has stated in public speeches and in documents released to Congress and the media that his vision for America is “protecting the weak.” Here’s a direct, related quote from Ryan the candidate: “The truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves.” But out of the other side of his mouth he advocates cutting Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program in half by 2050 (CHIP provides health coverage to nearly eight million children in families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but who cannot afford private health insurance). That’s a 50 percent reduction from current spending levels in less than 40 years.

Let’s do some very simple math. In 2010, the total U.S. population was about 308.75 million. In that year the official poverty rate was 15.1 percent so the number of U.S. residents living in poverty was about 46.5 million. For sake of providing a conservative estimate of exactly what Ryan’s ideas for America entail, I will not assume that current trends will continue into the future but will use the more conservative estimate of the national poverty rate in 2050 of 12.5 percent. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates a 2050 population of 438 million, which means the number of U.S. residents living in poverty would be about 54.75 million. So if Ryan’s vision for the future were to be implemented through 2050, that means 65.75 million poor Americans would receive exactly one-half of the Medicaid and CHIP funds currently in our national budget that is allocated for 54.5 million poor (46.5 million plus 8 million).

Please tell me what part of that vision involves “protecting the weak.” Shafting the weak and powerless would be a far more accurate assessment, but, perhaps I’m being harsh. Surely Ryan, as a practicing Catholic, is more sensitive than that to the needs of the unfortunate.

But’s that’s not the case, Ryan’s records demonstrates. He also advocates cutting all other federal spending — with the exceptions of Social Security, Medicare, and the Department of Defense — by more than 70 percent. That number is neither a mistake nor an exaggeration, 70 percent and perhaps even more depending on details not yet provided in Ryan’s budget. Those spending cuts would be so draconian that they would adversely affect the entire national budget, with the exceptions noted above. So, what does that mean to the federal government in real world terms? Here’s a brief summary of agencies and programs that would be cut drastically.

Department of Agriculture — Forest Service, food and nutrition assistance, farm price supports, crop insurance.

·     Housing and Urban Development — Community Development Block Grants, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Federal Housing Administration (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), public housing, rental assistance.

·     Department of Health and Human Services — Food and Drug Administration, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, Head Start, Indian Health Service.

·     Department of Education — student loans and scholarships, vocational and adult education programs.

·     Veterans Administration — health care, National Cemeteries, and veteran benefits including veteran loans, insurance, vocational rehabilitation, employment, and higher education.

·     Justice Department — FBI, DEA, ATF, Federal Marshall Service, the federal prison system.

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Federal court system.

·     Department of the Interior — U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Geological Survey, National Park Service.

·     Homeland Security — FEMA, TSA, Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection, Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

·     Department of Commerce — Census Bureau, NOAA, National Weather Service, Patent Office, National Institute of Standards and Technology.

·     Department of Transportation — Federal Highway Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, and AMTRAK.

·     Department of Labor — Unemployment insurance programs, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Mine Safety and Health Administration, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Veterans Employment and Training Service.

·     Other agencies include NASA, Small Business Administration, EPA, National Transportation Safety Board, National Science Foundation, DOE National Laboratories, energy efficiency programs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, federal autism programs (Medicaid), job training, national flood insurance, alcohol and substance abuse counseling, federal civilian compensation, foreign development aid, and hundreds more.

In other words, every federal department and program would suffer such brutal budget cuts that many if not most would disappear entirely while the others become so eviscerated as to be unable to carry out their legislated missions. So, Ryan’s vision for this country is, for all practical purposes, to eliminate the role of federal government in our lives. What readers must ask is whether they want their entire lives to change dramatically.

But, wait, Paul Ryan’s vision for America isn’t complete until taxes on the wealthiest individuals and families are cut while taxes on the poor and the middle classes are raised. So, where Ryan stands, based on his own words, is squarely on the side of the trickle-down theory where the wealthy create jobs for everyone else simply because their taxes are decreased. It’s the same idea as feeding horses more oats so sparrows will thrive on their enriched droppings. People like us, of course, are the sparrows. I call it Republican Fecal Economics.

In 1980, the marginal income tax rates for the top income bracket adjusted for inflation was 70 percent. Since then that tax rate has been cut in half, to 35 percent. So, where are all the jobs created by that halving of the top bracket rate? Since the 1980s have the rich been stumbling all over themselves in creating the plentiful new job opportunities as Ryan predicts or am I simply delusional?

Ryan’s cruel vision is that of a heartless nation that turns its back on the poor and needy while allowing the wealthy to get fatter by gorging themselves at the tax relief trough. That’s not the America I know and love. But that is Paul Ryan’s vision for America, without exaggeration.