"Not until the twentieth century did America reject social Darwinism. We created a large middle class that became the engine of our economy and our democracy. We built safety nets to catch Americans who fell downward, often through no fault of their own.
We designed regulations to protect against the inevitable excesses of free-market greed. We taxed the rich and invested in public goods -- public schools, public universities, public transportation, public parks, public health -- that made us all better off.
In short, we rejected the notion that each of us is on our own in a competitive contest for survival.
But choosing Ryan, Romney has raised for the nation the starkest of choices: Do we want to return to that earlier time, or are we willing and able to move forward -- toward a democracy and an economy that works for us all?"
I strongly believe that our welfare system needs a major overhaul. I believe it doesn't help people in the long run as much as it should our could. It allows 10 million children to go to bed hungry every night in our country. Cutting funding is the opposite of what is needed though. What should happen is a thorough review and solutions developed to truly help people lift themselves and their children out of poverty, and push them along toward personal fulfillment of their potential, guaranteeing equal access to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," something I don't believe is true today. One only has to look at public schools to see the great disparity in education.
He also writes: 'But there's reason to believe Romney also agrees with Ryan's social Darwinism. Romney accuses President Obama of creating an "entitlement society" and thinks government shouldn't help distressed homeowners but instead let the market "hit the bottom." ' The government should not help distressed homeowners: I could not disagree more. I am all for accountability, personal as well as corporate and government. That's why, although homeowners are not without blame in the housing crisis, the majority of the blame lies with corporations for painting way too rosy a picture and government for not protecting us against that picture. It took a team effort to create the ridiculous housing bubble, and so the blame should be spread throughout that team, and not just on the backs of manipulated citizens who were told and believed an ARM and inflated household income was a ticket to home ownership.
The scariest part of Dr. Reich's piece, though, is this: Some believe Romney chose Ryan solely in order to drum up enthusiasm on the right. Since most Americans have already made up their minds about whom they'll vote for, and the polls show Americans highly polarized -- with an almost equal number supporting Romney as Obama -- the winner will be determined by how many on either side take the trouble to vote. So in picking Ryan, Romney is motivating his rightwing base to get to the polls, and pull everyone else they can along with them. I can see this happening. We need to get out and vote, and make sure all our liberal friends and relatives and strangers do so, too!
