One point of a document as subversive as Paul Ryan's 2012 budget is to provoke debate, and has it ever. But amid the thoughtful musings about starving orphans and grandma in a snowbank, could his critics at least get their facts right?
Let's unpack the distortions.
The WSJ proceeds to go through the attacks being launched against Paul Ryan's plan, covering five areas:
• Deficits and debt
• Tax cuts for "the rich"
• Medicare "cuts"
• Real health-care reform
• Health-care inflation
Read the details.
The conclusion:
These attacks amount to false fronts for the real objection, which is over the role of government. Mr. Ryan's critics understand very well that he wants to substitute markets for bureaucratic central planning. What he would dismantle isn't Medicare, but its system of one-size-fits-all coverage and price controls. The liberal answer to runaway costs, passed as part of ObamaCare, is the Independent Payment Advisory Board that will decide how much the government will pay for what treatments and was deliberately shielded from Congressional supervision.
Medicare "as we know it" will change because it must. The only issue is how. Mr. Ryan is offering Americans a reform rooted in consumer choice and private competition, rather than political control and bureaucratic rationing. This is why he is under such ferocious liberal assault.
Keep this information in mind when Obama delivers his budget address tonight.
You can't buy what Obama's selling, not if you believe in liberty and choice and the private sector.
On the other hand, if you want excessive government control in your life and you don't mind giving up your freedom, reject Paul Ryan's plan.
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Read "Obama Puts Taxes on Table."
Read "Eat the Rich."
Read "Three Cheers for Paul Ryan...On Second Thought, Make it Four."
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