I must admit that I tuned in to see the announcement of Mitt Romney's running mate in order to hear his first real statement to the people of the United States, and Paul Ryan did not disappoint. For myself, as a democrat, here is the thing that I heard that stuck in my mind, "we promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes."
To those of my friends that are conservative, and I'm glad to say I have more than a few and we all have a healthy opportunity to voice our opinion, (and we don't "unfriend" each other just because our philosophies are different) what I want to point out about this is that this single statement shows how naive and extreme the republican party has become. It concerns me that they actually believe this to be the case. I would ask how many of them have actually been to an inner city school, have seen children come to school with shoes so worn out that they are held together with tape (and I heard this description at my catholic church today for those of you that think all democrats must be atheists). Luckily for our neighborhood, the community came together to donate school supplies that would otherwise not be available to this inner city school. I wish that there was more of this help available to those that have an "equal opportunity" to succeed.
It also reminds me of a blog I posted a while ago, where I ranted about a local radio host here in Denver that was convinced that government school food programs were a waste of tax dollars (http://losttouchwith.blogspot.com/2011/08/free-school-lunches-make-talk-show-host.html if you'd like to read it). To believe that we don't have a responsibility to take care of our fellow man and help them up when they need it is at the heart of this election. And it is truly telling that Paul Ryan is also an Ayn Rand follower (although he has lately seemed to change his tune slightly). How many of you out there know that Ayn Rand was very much a believer in "I have mine, and so that makes me superior to you" belief in big business.
Here is what your choice comes down to this November. Do you believe that there is actually an equal opportunity in this country to get ahead, or do we have a responsibility to have social programs in place that do truly allow for those that are less advantaged to be provided the tools that can get them ahead.
And for those of you that say there should be no socialized programs, that we are not a democracy that also has social programs, think about programs like Defense, Transportation (which is much more than highways for those of you that forget we've all contributed to the ability to transport goods around this great country of ours), NASA (which I personally love and wish we could support more, and how many of those developments led to great advancements for all, think computers), and now Healthcare (and again, I'm probably risking comments from my conservative friends, but) because I truly believe that when there is something that will be used for the benefit of all in this country, it should be looked at as a social program for the benefit of all (and there are studies now coming out that point to the fact that countries that have vastly disparate classes also have vastly awful and expensive healthcare). I don't know that this is the kind of government I want to see elected to represent us. I truly think the republican party has lost touch.
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