The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
From David Brooks's New York Times column for tomorrow, Tuesday--and for once, I agree with David's every word:
Over the past few weeks, a number of groups, including the ex-chairmen of the Council of Economic Advisers and 64 prominent budget experts, have issued letters arguing that the debt situation is so dire that doing nothing is not a survivable option. What they lacked was courageous political leadership — a powerful elected official willing to issue a proposal, willing to take a stand, willing to face the political perils.
The country lacked that leadership until today. Today, Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, is scheduled to release the most comprehensive and most courageous budget reform proposal any of us have seen in our lifetimes. Ryan is expected to leap into the vacuum left by the president’s passivity. The Ryan budget will not be enacted this year, but it will immediately reframe the domestic policy debate....
Paul Ryan has grasped reality with both hands. He’s forcing everybody else to do the same.
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Apr '11
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
Finally someone with some cajones! We really need some to step up to the plate, before it's too late.
Edited on Apr 4, 2011 at 9:13pmSep '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
Yes, and will Brooks and half dozen other pundits too smart for words support Ryan when he stumbles;, or will they resort to their typically petty political score keeping?
Oct '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
What is encouraging to me is that Ryan is no longer a voice crying in the wilderness, which was what he was when he came out with "the roadmap". He is now the Chairman of the House Budget Committee. This means that the House leadership has given the green light. But you know what that means: We' got the bull by the horns, and can't let go 'til he's whupped good! Saddle up boys, we' got some ridin' to do!
Edited on Apr 4, 2011 at 9:18pmOct '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
Now I'm nervous that the king of all RINO's--David Brooks--likes it.
Apr '11
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
I'll bet they do too, and they'll use thier own umpires too. Paul Ryan is about to be skewered by the mainstream media.
Jul '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
Wisconsin is having quite a run of conservative, political leadership: Priebus, Walker, Ryan.
May '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
That's funny. They debated a couple months back on this issue. Huh.
Apr '11
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
Robert, who is they?
May '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
And not a micro second to soon. Its amazing how America always seems to find great leaders in moments of extreme peril.
Mar '11
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
We’ll see if Brooks likes Ryan’s specifics as much as he likes the idea of fiscal leadership. Still if Brooks has come this far, then this may be the year in which politics as usual has met its match. Gold Meir once said that Israel’s secret weapon was that her country had no alternative. Belt tightening and financial discipline become feasible in the absence of alternatives.
Edited on Apr 4, 2011 at 9:45pmJul '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
Well, Ryan's not the only one. Rand Paul wants $500 billion in cuts this year. And Gary Johnson wants a 43% cut in total federal expenditures.
The absolute keys are to repeal or defund Obamacare, replace Medicare with something that makes sense and transition out of Social Security.
How is it that we are talking about making a paltry $400 billion in cuts to a $1.7 trillion deficit when even free-spending George W Bush left office with a mere $239 billion?
Jun '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
How much does Ryan allocate for battling the mobs of socialists, con artists, and spoiled children (of all ages) that will be rioting in the streets, and disrupting any meeting that involves cutting budgets? If it really happens, this is going to be Madison, Wisconsin, times a thousand.
Oct '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
Kenneth: Well, Ryan's not the only one. Rand Paul wants $500 billion in cuts this year. And Gary Johnson wants a 43% cut in total federal expenditures.
The absolute keys are to repeal or defund Obamacare, replace Medicare with something that makes sense and transition out of Social Security.
How is it that we are talking about making a paltry $400 billion in cuts to a $1.7 trillion deficit when even free-spending George W Bush left office with a mere $239 billion? · Apr 4 at 9:49pm
Eh, not to put too fine a point on it, but you realize a major portion of that was the payroll tax cut (i.e. fiscal stimulus). The deficit would have been around 1 trillion(possibly less) if not for that.
1 trillion - 400 billion = 600 billion. Add in the inevitable growth in revenue, expiration of recession-enacted tax credits of various sorts, end of the 2009 stimulus, etc, and I wouldn't be surprised if it declined to 200-300 billion in a couple of years (if Ryan's budget is enacted).
Dec '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
Whatever the amount, it's worth it. If the majority of citizens in this country want to follow Michael Moore's cry to eat the rich, they ought to bring out their flatware and their dinner plates to the town square and say so. At the very least, the rest of us deserve to have some fair warning of who the cannibals are.
Jun '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
Keep in mind that the budget battle is merely the opening salvo. Real conservatives know that victory can only come with a massive rollback of the administrative state. This will mean eliminating entire agencies including the cabinet level positions that ostensibly run them. I don't see the left accepting that without civil disorder on a massive scale.
Oct '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
Alert the authorities, demand a nationwide manhunt and the immediate arrest of the imposter that filed David Brooks column.
The worst of it is, it was almost certainly a rogue group of our fellow conservatives that have kidnapped David Brooks and installed a reasonable person in his place. The Tea Party? --Gulp--
May '10
Re: The Country Lacked Leadership Until Today: David Brooks on the Ryan Budget
reidspoorhouse
Robert, who is they? · Apr 4 at 9:27pm
David Brooks and Paul Ryan debated at AEI. Here.
Edited on Apr 5, 2011 at 1:15pm