With presidential candidate Mitt Romney's recent announcement of Rep. Paul Ryan as his VP running mate, the 2012 GOP White House bid just became the most radical, far right ticket in modern American history.
Polling has shown many Americans can't believe any politician would propose anything as radical as Ryan's now infamous budget proposals. Ryan and Romney both have proposed extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans while making drastic cuts to programs like Medicaid, food stamps, HUD and dozens of others that service not only the poorest and most vulnerable in our society, but our nation's failing infrastructure. These austerity measures are not pro growth at a time of economic hardship, have not historically improved employment numbers, and they will not be enough to offset the major tax cuts that Romney and Ryan would like to see continued or newly implemented, which will only lead to growing deficits and continued record debt. There is no path to deficit/debt reduction without additional tax revenues and Romney and Ryan know this.
How any woman could possibly vote for this ticket is beyond me. Ryan was a cosponsor for legislation that would have outlawed In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) because of his beliefs about how and when life begins. Ryan and Romney together would slash Title X funding to Planned Parenthood and Ryan's proposed $810 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years would undoubtedly lead to the closure of women's clinics in every state in the union, the kind of closures already implemented by radical right conservative governors in both Wisconsin and Texas.
If our goal economically is further income inequality, dramatically less assistance for the poorest and most vulnerable in our society, and continued jobs decline and increase in deficits, Romney and Ryan are our guys. If women would like to see their sexual rights and control over when and how they choose to have children set back by 50 years, then they should vote for the three Rs: Ryan, Romney, Republicans.
Let's not let the radical right agenda of the tea party become our public policy.
Eric Engle
Parkersburg
