Romney Goes Deep With Ryan

John Nance Garner (D-Texas) was the last member of the House of Representatives, nominated as a Vice President, who was on a winning ticket.  It was the 1932 election and Franklin Delano Roosevelt was his President.  Garner is probably best known as describing the Vice Presidency as, “…not worth a bucket of warm spit [No, “spit” is not the word he used].”  Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), will be the next Representative, nominated as Vice President, on a winning ticket.  Paul Ryan will be a much better Vice President than Garner; but then, Mitt Romney will be a much better President as well. 

            In selecting Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has gone deep.  He chose not a boutique choice, nor a main-stream choice, certainly not a, “flavor of the month” choice but a strong, smart, savvy man, with a degree in economics, who knows what this campaign is really about.  Some people will say that Ryan is not a, “safe” choice.  I disagree.  Paul Ryan is superbly capable of understanding, articulating and acting on the needs of this precarious economy.  He will be good for the country and that makes him a safe choice.  “Safe” should mean safe for the country, not safe for the theater of political manipulation. 

            This election is not just about recovering our economic legs; it is about confirming our commitment to individual effort, the free market economy and reward commensurate with worth.  We are not, as some people zealously maintain, battling good and evil.  Those lines would be far too easy to see and understand.  We are battling two disparate views of what constitutes good economics and good government. 

Unfortunately, when people see the free market as a tool of inequality instead of a tool of just reward we start down the ugly path toward Portugal’s problems.  When our President sincerely believes that the federal, state and local governments are the font of all success (“You didn’t build that…”) then we are on the road toward Italy’s problems.  When public service unions (teachers, fire, police, postal workers, et. al.) feel that tax payers should fund their salaries and benefits with no accountability to performance or economic realities we are on the way toward Greece’s problems.  When we feel that there should be no risk, no reward, no innovation, no individual effort, just the homogenized sops of an all powerful government doling out enough bread and circus to keep us all happy, then we are on the way toward Spain’s economy.  Each of these countries (the so-called PIGS countries) shares our European heritage.  They share our cultural, religious and social background.  And each one of them is an economically failed democracy. 

Here is the lesson for us all.  Here is the strength of Mitt Romney’s choice in his running mate.  Here is what we need to know about this team of Romney/Ryan.  They see the problems, and they have viable answers.  They are not afraid of the economic truth, because they know that solutions are available. 

            In a quote from Sunday’s Washington Post, Paul Ryan says, “The commitment Mitt Romney and I make to you is this: We won’t duck the tough issues; we will lead…  We won’t blame others; we will take responsibility. And we won’t replace our founding principles; we will reapply them.”

            I would like to emphasize the most important part of that quote, “…we won’t replace our founding principles; we will reapply them.”

            Reaffirm your belief in American free enterprise, and keep the faith.