Prospective Republican Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, has chosen Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, as his Vice Presidential running mate. What will that choice, that ticket, mean for the poor and minorities?
Perhaps it is too early to answer that question conclusively. But both Romney and Ryan have provided ample clues. One could even conclude that the emerging Republican Party has provided numerous signs as well. Just look at the voting record, or the lack thereof, of the sitting Republican Congress. Look at the influence of the Tea Party, which does not have any significant representation of the poor or minorities.
Paul Ryan is most known for the Ryan proposal, which purports to balance the budget by cutting discretionary spending, reduce the national debt, and erase the deficit over the next several decades. How does he plan to do that? By going down a one-way street called CUTS. What about generating REVENUES. Anyone who knows anything about balancing budgets knows that there are two sides to the equation.
The Ryan budget plan wants to cut Medicaid and other entitlement programs that would directly impact the working poor and disenfranchised. Yes, there are still millions of people in America that do not have equal opportunity and therefore cannot pull themselves up by their boot straps.
Given an equal opportunity to learn and to work, most Americans — black, white, Hispanic, and Asian — would take advantage of it. But the vestiges of racism and classism are alive and well all over America — still. So the hard-work, self-reliant mantra that the Romney-Ryan ticket chants just does not comport with reality.
Where is the moral compass that would allow you to continue to propose an unfair taxing system that gives breaks and benefits to the wealthiest among us while penalizing the majority who works one or more jobs to make ends meet and try to realize in some measure the American dream of home ownership, a good neighborhood, and quality schools?
What moral compass guides your decision to cut meager resources to the poor, the maimed, and infirmed among us who are unable to fend for themselves? We are not speaking of the healthy able-bodied few that take advantage of the system. Yes they should be weeded out and booted out.
How can you boast of fairness and balance when certain components of the budget are sacrosanct? Tax cuts. The Military.
There are ways to get our fiscal house in order as a nation. But it cannot be the same old game of pitting the “Haves” against the “Have-Nots,” the weak and vulnerable (minorities, the poor, the elderly) being tooled around and manipulated by the rich and the powerful.
The past seems to be prologue. Only in this time and place in our history, we need to avoid being anachronistic in our political policies. America is a country that is diverse in terms of its citizens and the socio-economic conditions that define them. Any real solution will have to be inclusive of issues and solutions for all Americans, not just the privileged few.
The Republican Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates should they be elected will need to be the leaders of all America.
Where do minorities and the poor fit within their platform and vision for America?