Letters: Romney-Ryan 'Out of Touch'

Dear Nashua Patch:

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has chosen a vice presidential running mate whose values are out of touch with the majority of Americans. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is greatly admired by his fellow Republicans. However, as a congressman he proposed a budget that would effectively rip away health care, services, and income from our most vulnerable populations. Ryan's budget is not about saving money or reducing the deficit, however: under the same plan, tax breaks for people who accrue capital gains from investments are preserved and expanded however. In other words, Ryan believes that budget savings should come on the back of everyone but the wealthiest Americans.

Among other cuts, a Romney-Ryan budget would end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher system, shifting thousands of dollars in health care costs to seniors. Under this plan, seniors' health costs would increase by $6,350 a year. Ryan has also proposed a plan that would have privatized Social Security, forcing seniors to gamble their retirement savings on Wall Street.

These harsh proposals are difficult to reconcile with Ryan’s claim to be led by the principles of his Catholic faith. (Although on most issues, Ryan seems to prefer libertarianism over Catholicism, apparently when it comes to women’s rights he prefers government control. He has supported legislation in the past to ban certain contraceptives and to outlaw abortion even in the case of rape or incest.)  

Ryan's inconsistencies have not gone unnoticed by his fellow Catholics. In fact, earlier this year, two Catholic bishops, Bishop Stephen E. Blair and Bishop Richard E. Pates of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), wrote to Congress alarmed that the Ryan budget failed to meet certain “moral criteria” that many Catholics hold dear. They pointed out that cutting funds, as Rep. Ryan's budget would do, for affordable housing, nutrition programs, SNAP-food stamps, and the Child Tax Credit would “hurt hungry children, poor families, low income workers and other vulnerable people” in society.

Ryan, like his boss Romney, should come clean about his true values. Voters need to know that a Romney and Ryan administration would hurt seniors, low-income families, and the middle class by making massive cuts to programs, many of which we have already paid for. Their true intent is to end vital government programs to help pay for tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires.

Julia Rodriguez
Durham, NH