Jonathan Alter has a column arguing that Paul Ryan’s budget cuts are un-Republican, citing everything from Lincoln-era Hamiltonian internal improvements to Ronald Reagan signing on to a few tax increases: The idea of using government money to invest in the future hardly died with Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt built the Panama Canal; Dwight Eisenhower constructed the interstate highway system; and Republicans have voted for smaller such investments repeatedly over the years. Even in 1964, when Republicans nominated conservative Barry Goldwater for president, the party platform made it clear that the tax cuts it promised would only materialize “as fiscal discipline is restored.” Reading Alter’s column, you would get no sense of the national debt crisis that motivates Ryan’s budget, the little-bitty problems with Fannie and Freddie, or the fact that Solyndra is in many respects a more representative contemporary government “investment” than the interstate highway system. When a liberal columnist chides the Republican Party for not following the principles of Eisenhower, Goldwater, and Reagan, run away.
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Teddy Roosevelt Built A Canal, So Let’s Go Broke
Barack Obama spoke to the American press yesterday to demagogue Republicans, Paul Ryan’s budget, cite Ronald Reagan as proof that raising taxes is okay, and damn with faint praise American exceptionalism. The President called Paul Ryan’s budget a “trojan horse.” Given the President’s predilection for forcing all Americans, through regulatory fiat, to adhere to his view of contraception, I suspect that had Paul Ryan preemptively called his budget a ‘trojan condom,” the President of the United States would be campaigning trying to make us all adhere to it. One thing that really stuck out at me in his speech yesterday was his statement that his very life and career were made possible because of American exceptionalism. He’s right. It’s also what makes his public policy choices so maddening. The President’s policy choices reject the very American exceptionalism he himself claims to have benefited from. Our nation has had a unique spirit centered around the idea of the Puritan work ethic and the rugged individualism that sprang from that. But Barack Obama wants to get rid of that exceptionalism and make us conform to the failed socialist policies of Europe. He says he wants to tax the rich because it will help the middle class. The only way taxing the rich helps the middle class is when the middle class is so dependent on government that it requires further wealth redistribution to maintain its government subsidy. Government subsidy is not what American exceptionalism is all about. Government policy to redistribute wealth for middle class welfare subsidies is conforming to the rest of the world. Conforming is not exceptional, it is a failure. As an added bonus, it was more than a bit ironic to hear Barack Obama call Paul Ryan a social darwinist considering Barack Obama remains the only member of the Illinois State Senate to speak in favor of infanticide from the floor of the State Senate .
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Maybe Paul Ryan Should Have Called It a Trojan Condom Budget
Today is March 30th. On this date in 1867, the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million smackers. So if you win the lottery tonight, you can buy, like, 80 million Alaskas all at once, which is way more Alaskas than most people will own in a lifetime ! Also on this date in 1981, Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr. in Washington, DC. He is the only U.S. President to have survived being shot in an assassination attempt. Reagan once said “facts are stubborn things.” Facts have repeatedly insisted that they are not. On this date in 1993, Charlie Brown hit his first home run in the Peanuts comic strip. To this day, allegations of performance-enhancing ink linger and cast a pall over his victory. And finally, today is National Pencil Day , in honor of which this entire post has been written in pencil. Consider this an Open Thead . GAB sets historic recall elections for Walker, Kleefisch | JS Online “State elections officials ordered a set of historic recall elections Friday, making Scott Walker the third governor in the nation to face a recall and Rebecca Kleefisch the first lieutenant governor to face one.” The ‘flexibility’ doctrine | Charles Krauthammer “First of all, to speak of Russian elections in the same breath as ours is a travesty. Theirs was a rigged, predetermined farce. Putin ruled before. Putin rules after.” U.S. soldier dies saving Afghan girl | CNN “The official Pentagon news release says he died “from injuries suffered in a noncombat related incident.” But there is much more to the story. Weichel, 29, of Providence, died saving the life of a little girl.” The Franklin Center Fuels Rise of Citizen Journalism | Red Alert Politics “The Franklin Center is a non-profit designed to work with non-traditional news sources like non-profit journalism groups, independent activists and bloggers to help fill the gap of shrinking media covering state capitols.” Today’s Word of the Day comes via Merriam-Webster. atavism (AT-uh-viz-um): noun 1. a : recurrence in an organism of a trait or character typical of an ancestral form and usually due to genetic recombination b : recurrence of or reversion to a past style, manner, outlook, approach, or activity 2. one that manifests atavism : throwback REMINDER : Only two days left for the Early Bird Rate for the RedState Gathering. Read about it here , or sign up right away here !
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Daily Links – March 30, 2012
Paul Ryan’s endorsement of Mitt Romney has the potential to be important. Some Republicans have started throwing their weight behind Romney as part of an establishment push to expedite the end of the primary process. Others are backing Romney now to enter the vice presidential sweepstakes. While both of those could be factors here, the Ryan endorsement could go beyond that. Ryan has been critical of aspects of Romney’s record, particularly Romneycare , in the past. But he’s noticeably warmed to Romney in recent months and it’s worth noting his argument that voting for Romney isn’t “settling”: “I was not a fan of Bob Dole being our nominee in ‘96, I didn’t support John McCain throughout the primary, I supported other people last time.This is not the same kind of candidate.” Crucial here is that Ryan has calculated that Romney represents the best chance to get his fiscal blueprint, in the former of the budget that passed the House yesterday, signed into law. Romney has been supportive of the Ryan plan, including the broad outlines of what the House Budget Committee chairman would like to do to restructure Medicare. The current version of the Medicare plan in the House budget more closely resembles what Romney has specifically endorsed than last year’s budget. Ryan could tie Romney to a comprehensive conservative agenda on entitlements and government spending, thus giving conservatives a stake in his election, in a way that the candidate has never been able to do himself. One factor that could mitigate that is that there has been more conservative criticism this time around, both in terms of wanting a budget that cuts spending faster and some of his Bush-era votes on issues like TARP. But some conservatives will be more inclined to vote for Romney if they believe he will play Ronald Reagan to Ryan’s Jack Kemp.
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Romney, Ryan, and the Right
Some random thoughts on the passing scene (with apologies to Thomas Sowell). 1. Jeb Bush’s endorsement of Mitt Romney reflects the establishment view that Illinois means its over and that it is time to rally the Republican Party around Romney rather than continue a primary campaign that will, the argument goes, only drive up his negatives for the general. 2. Illinois was good illustration of the slow-moving train wreck that this primary campaign has become. Romney’s margin was decisive but still weak by past frontrunner standards. Conservatives still were lukewarm toward him, but did not embrace the alternatives enough to keep him from winning. 3. Rick Santorum is supposed to be the Rust Belt candidate. Perhaps if he stuck to his economic populist message he could have been, though that might have put a ceiling on his conservative support elsewhere. He has clearly lost that mojo. 4. Outside, Newt Gingrich’s fourth place finishes are becoming increasingly common. The rationale for his candidacy is hard to see. Santorum would no doubt benefit in some states and national polls from him leaving the race, but I’m not sure it would have much more impact than that. I think there was a period of time, probably before Ohio, when a Gingrich departure would have made Santorum a real threat to overtake Romney but that window has closed. 5. A slim chance still exists for Santorum and company to deny Romney a first-ballot victory at the convention, at which point all bets are off. But that window is starting to close too. 6. The “Etch a Sketch” controversy is a good example of conservative distrust for Romney. And it’s not a problem that’s unique to Romney: since Richard Nixon, Republicans have been running to the right in the primaries and then to the left in the general. Ronald Reagan was the exception. 7. Romney endorser John McCain is also a problem. Many conservatives held their nose for him in 2008, watched him lose to Barack Obama, and said, “Never again.” Romney is finding out that they mean it. 8. Paul Ryan’s right-wing critics are correct that he should cut faster — a balanced budget in 2040? — but are being shortsighted if they don’t understand this is mainly a debate about what Ryan wants to do with Medicare. 9. I very much doubt Tim Tebow will start for the New York Jets at the beginning of the season. Mark Sanchez just signed a large, early contract extension, Tebow’s biggest contribution will be improving the Jets’ recently lackluster running game, and this only makes sense inasmuch as this forces opposing defenses to prepare for both quarterbacks. But Tebow could be starting there by the end of the season, especially if 2011 Sanchez returns in 2012. 10. I feel badly for Tebow that this was his destination. I just don’t think this is his scene. 11. Ron Paul passed 1 million votes last night. It took him basically the entire campaign to manage that feat in 2008.
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From Jeb Bush to Tim Tebow
