During the Vice Presidential Debate, I had the pleasure of seeing the gentle well-composed man of Paul Ryan. I have to admit, I hadn’t taken opportunities until the debate at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky to hear Mr. Ryan speak. From my discipline of being able to suspend all prejudices of a person so that I can actually hear their actual words, I did so and found much gratification in Biden’s interjections to put facts to topics not mentioned by Ryan.
The 5-point plan was mentioned again by Ryan, so I made the effort to search it out on the web. In three tries, I finally tapped into the right website that laid out the plan, (aside from the website that indicated a 5-point plan, but I had trouble sorting it out through Romney’s swim trunks and the secret steering committee that came together to seemingly put the plan together while he was swimming elsewhere in the U.S.)
The 5 point plan sounds well thought out, and again specifics for each point needs to be elaborated upon, so I have them listed here with comments or questions by each point. You may want to raise your own comments and questions.
1. building energy independence (The U.S. is already doing this through alternative energy: wind and solar, and we will always need coal and electricity. Coal jobs are not in jeopardy.)
2. ensuring Americans have the skills to succeed (If education loans and grants are cut, AND Sesame Street, how will this be accomplished?)
3. opening markets that work for America (HOW? For each suggestion under this point.)
4. cutting the deficit (How can you do this without cutting services to the poor and homeowners?)
5. championing small businesses (Small business owners are counted as individuals—any other way would complicate matters. No unions? How is that going to put more money in a laborer’s pocket? Without unions, businesses will be able to work people for very little and they will continue cutting full-time employment so they will not have to attend to the labor laws and benefits for employees. Even with a state-wide insurance mandate, everyone will still be required to buy health insurance.)
The debate was well moderated, and the candidates minded their P’s and Q’s. They were very respectful to the moderator and to one another. On abortion, Joe Biden will not impose his personal Catholic views on any other American. Two Supreme Court Justices are to be sworn in the next 4 years, he added. Paul Ryan cannot separate his personal -faith from his professional, and was leery when asked the question if the Romney-Ryan ticket won the race should those who are pro-choice be worried.
If the Romney-Ryan ticket wins the race, then we should expect Medicare to become a Voucher plan and future seniors would have to pay more out of pocket costs. Social Security will be privatized, but those 55 and above will not be affected. So, what about those 54, 53, 52, 51, 50? Who are out of work since 2009, 2010? What kind of Social Security will they have saved to privatize? Are people starting at zero or will they get all that they have already put in to Social Security? These programs under Obama and Biden will be guaranteed services as originally promised to all. Biden went on to say that if people had had their Social Security money in the stock market during the recession, millions would have lost it all. It is too risky to gamble a person’s retirement away.
On taxes, Biden says there will be a tax increase for those making one million dollars and more. Level the playing field for middle class. Let the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire. Ryan says: “the 120,000 millionaires/billionaires’ taxes cannot pay for everything they want to pay for.”
On foreign affairs, in 2014 the timeline end for US troops to withdraw completely from Afghanistan. Afghans must sustain their own country and US troops are training them to do so. America is informed that Iran isn’t as close to a nuclear bomb as we were led to believe from Israeli President during the UN meeting that took place last month in New York.
The debate informed Americans of President Obama’s consistent message of moving forward and of Romney’s, “scratch” everything and start all over approach. The last thing America needs is a “start all over” approach. We have come too far to start all over again. We are going in the right direction if the politicians and special interest groups will just let us get back to work.
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