by Martha Susan Morris
With the announcement of Paul Ryan as the Vice Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney elevated his campaign to a level that the populace has been demanding for some time. Gone are the days of empty rhetoric and petty issues being blown out of proportion by the media. Paul Ryan’s addition to the ticket shows that Mitt Romney and the Republican Party are aiming to go beyond merely defining the election as a referendum on Pres. Barack Obama. They are advocating for what they think the American political landscape should look like and articulating a vision that the populace will embrace and encourage, with "solutions that are bold, specific and achievable."
Paul Ryan is young, hip and incredibly "cool;" he is THE rock star of the GOP. Never one to live extravagantly, Ryan sleeps in his office and is rarely “swirling” off the Hill. Rather than partake in after-hours socializing, Ryan meets with other members in the House gym often over the P90x workout that he credits with maintaining his fitness. Furthermore, Ryan’s wife is the matriarch that many look up too; she herself studied and practiced as a tax lawyer long before marrying and beginning a family with Ryan, living on the same block where he was raised as a young boy.
It appears the GOP realized that to procure the woman or minority vote, they would not necessarily need to put a woman or minority on the ticket, but rather someone who actually appeals to women and minorities. As a voter who is both female and youthful, speaking for both, the joy in seeing a ticket that has a vision for the future of the country is overwhelming. Conservatives have been long considered stuck in the past and traditionalists. However, with the addition of Ryan to the ticket, this election not only brings to light the negatives of Obama’s policies, but the opportunities and changes the GOP ticket would bring to the current systems that have been failing this country for years.
The youth vote specifically is incredibly in touch with the burden of debt that we will inherit. There are debt clocks on websites, calculators informing us of what we owe, and the job market itself highlights the difficulties that we may come to face in the near future. The addition of Ryan to the GOP ticket brings the hope that Obama promised in 2008. With Ryan there is a blueprint of a plan that will bring robust change to systems that have seemingly weighed our generation down. We are not merely placing blame on Obama but "taking responsibility" by electing a man with a vision to change and lead our country to account for our actions and, yes, our mistakes.
The value in adding Paul Ryan to the ticket is endless. The party is ignoring cynical identity politics and has realized that Ryan's values and persona are more appealing than his demographic profile.
Furthermore, the enthusiasm for Ryan as Vice President especially in his home state of Wisconsin--a state whose Senate race was considered a toss-up, may slide the votes away from Democrat Tammy Baldwin. Also, the pick puts the traditionally Democratic Wisconsin in play for Romney,
Though Ryan means more than all these things collectively, he excites an already-electrified base, signals a change in the rhetoric, appeals to our generation, and most importantly, proves that those in charge are listening to the American people. We want change and we want answers, and Paul Ryan delivers each. It is time to talk about the deficit and spending, and when it comes down to it, these are the two issues and the only two issues I want to hear about. It is how I will decide to vote in November and how I will choose to canvas in September. Paul Ryan’s vision for our country has quickly defined this race, and not just ignited the enthusiasm of the youth and Tea-Partiers but that of women and Midwesterners as well. And as in politics, in the course of a day, the 2012 race has again been energized and redefined, changing the outcome of this election forever.
Martha Susan Morris serves as Director of Her New View, an organization aimed to elevate women under 40 in the political sphere. Our inaugural event “Lashing Back at the Backlash: How the Media Expoloits Conservative Women” will take place in Tampa, Florida, Aug. 26. Her New View is a branch of Palladian View, a digital magazine for the conservative Republican woman.
then MSM provides examples of 'empty rhetoric'...and great GOP sound bites... re/eg: 'They are advocating for what they think the American political landscape should look like...' [MSM] they actually advocate for the failed, voodoo, economic, policies that led to 1929/2008 debacles...ie/eg, cut rich folk taxes; cut programs for education, and for po folk and the 'least among us.' re: 'Paul Ryan is young, hip and incredibly "cool;" '[MSM] just what we need a young, hip, cool, disciple of ayn rand...rand was an atheist who scorned Ronald Reagan for attempting to fuse church and state. "Somehow he's the smartest guy in the party and she's [palin's] the stupidest woman on earth, but they agree on everything," [bill maher say] re: 'It appears the GOP realized that to procure the woman...' [MSM] they have to defund planed parenthood, vote against Ledbetter Fair Pay act...etcETC YES: MR/PR are the ticket for those who vote against their self interest...and actually those who vote against the common good and our country's general welfare... HIPHIP HOORAY for team filpflop and cool kid...
1. Tax poor & working people but not the rich; 2. Encourage wages in the U.S. to fall to third world levels; 3. Pass trade laws that make it easy for companies to send jobs overseas; 4. Pass laws that enable only insurance companies to control who gets health care (including seniors) and who doesn't; 5. Replace public education with out of pocket private schools and home schooling; 6. Refuse to invest in crumbling public infrastructure such as highways, bridges, and sewer systems; 7. Pass laws that weaken regulations and enable companies to pollute the environment; 8. Pass laws that enable gas and oil production and prices to be controlled by a few large companies; Make sure that there is no longer any research or work on alternative energy sources; Keep defense spending high to protect non domestic oil production; 9. Repress rights for women and minorities and repress voting participation; 10. Divide the American people on cultural issues (religion, sexual orientation, gun rights, etc); 11. Instill fear in the American public through manufactured crises and created "boogeymen". Then attack political opponents by claiming to be more "patriotic" and the better keeper of "American Values" than they. 12. Make it impossible for literally millions of ELIGIBLE voters to cast their ballots, which is flagrant vote tampering and corruption. Can YOU afford to support these guys? We can't. We're an average American working family.
when these specifics of MR/RP plan were posted on another thread...believe someone asked for references/proof... tho i cant address each specific (1-12)... in total they are indicative of GOP unregulated free market philosophy...and it hasnt/wont work... free markets can only work where there is no greed... Sadly greed (aka self-interest, self-love, egoism) exist in human nature... Jefferson warned, “self-love is no part of morality. Indeed it is exactly its counterpart. It is the sole antagonist of virtue, leading us constantly by our propensities to self-gratification in violation of our moral duties to others...' GOPs have not heeded jefferson’s warning...they instead embrace milton friedman and the atheist 'any' rand...
re: 'It appears the GOP realized that to procure the woman...' [MSM] ...they have to defund planed parenthood, vote against Ledbetter Fair Pay act...etcETC [stanley seigler] they now realize; Congressman Todd Akin, a member of the House and a Tea Party Republican Senate nominee, said that survivors of "legitimate rape" have biological defenses against pregnancy: "First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare... If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." indeed, 'Gone are the days of empty rhetoric'
While it is clear from your piece that Mr. Ryan makes your young heart go pitty-pat, it might be best, in the future, to run as fast as you can away from the temptation to verbally drool over a person about whom you are writing. Unless, of course, you are expressing such sentiments in a private note written in pink Sharpie and passed up a row of desks to a giggling middle-school friend. Your statement that the addition of Mr. Ryan means that "the days of empty rhetoric" are "gone" is laughable. In actuality, the "empty rhetoric" of the GOP ticket has simply doubled in both quantity and volume. We know nothing more specific about the Romney plan now than we did before. And all we knew before was that (1) the rich need another tax cut and Romney/Ryan will give them one and (2) the Romney/Ryan Medicare plan will increase costs for seniors before it drives the program into insolvency before the end of his first term. Do those qualify as what you characterize as "solutions that are bold, specific and achievable?" Is that what you meant when you wrote that they are "articulating a vision that the populace will embrace and encourage?" Is that the "change" you want? Are those the "answers" you're looking for? Your hyperbolic nonsense depicts Mr. Ryan as a "wonky wunderkind," a conservative Messiah. It has only taken a week for the rest of us to realize that he is nothing more than another phony, hypocritical, political hack.
I found it interesting that, after the Republicans crucified the President for suggesting that small businesses benefited from government programs, Mr. Ryan stated that "if your business failed, you didn't fail, your government failed you". Hypocrisy at its finest. Mr. Clark, this country was founded on the ideals of religious freedom and equality for ALL citizens, not just the ones who agree with you. If the Christian Right has their way, America would be no different than Middle Eastern countries living under Sharia Law.