Romney made his mark in the business world as a turnaround artist. He would invest in ailing companies and bring in a specialized team to turn the business around. The result, in most cases, was a stronger company with a thriving and profitable business. Is there anyone who thinks America couldn’t use a turnaround?
If the American government were a business, it would be in liquidation right now. Its revenue stream, the economy, is flat, burdened by arbitrary rules and regulations and a complex tax code. Yet the government has massive debt and even more massive obligations. There is no way, under current policy, to make the math work. No one understands this better than Paul Ryan.
By picking Ryan as his running mate, Romney has signaled that he too understands this. Moreover, though, it signals that Romney really is going to apply his private sector experience to governing. A leader doesn’t have to be able to personally fix every part of an ailing business. But, they have to know how and to whom to delegate the tasks. With Ryan, he is bringing in one of the foremost thinkers and experts on reforming government and fixing the federal budget.
Ryan isn’t just a green eye-shade accountant, though. His plan to restore fiscal sanity isn’t based on simply trimming numbers here and there. Rather, it is based on restoring the historical relationship between government and the people. It gives people more freedom, by putting more decisions in their hands.
Romney’s pick is a shrewd move. Yes, of course, Obama and the Democrats will demagogue and smear Ryan’s plans. But, they were going to do that anyway. Why not have the most articulate spokesman for those plans on the ticket? The Democrats attacks on the Ryan plan only worked because Ryan was unknown to the American people and didn’t have a national platform to argue why his reforms were necessary. He has that platform now.
Obviously, the choice of Ryan carries political risks. But, his selection wasn’t about politics; it was about governing.
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