SALON

Jim Newell

Tuesday, Sep 18, 2012 11:45 AM UTC

Leave “our children” alone!

Ryan and Romney love to play the kiddie card. They just won't tell the Youth just how screwed they'd really be

By

Topics:

Leave (Credit: iStockphoto/duncan1890/Salon)

What we see in this election season is a bunch of middle-aged and elderly politicians addressing elderly voters about what’s best for “our children and grandchildren.” As a 27-year-old, I suppose I’m at the tail end of the “our children” category. So allow me to offer a riposte that I don’t claim speaks for my entire generation and all those younger, but does speak for quite a few of them: Stop saying that you’re doing anything for our benefit.

We’re onto you. We know that in our shattered political system, the more often “children and grandchildren” are invoked, the more likely those same doe-eyed youths are to get the shaft. You’re jinxing it so badly, right now. Stop! Take your full benefits, exert your demographic voting prowess, whatever. But please, for the love of God, spare your children and grandchildren the audacious explanation that this is done for their sake. They are not so stupid as to believe that self-sacrifice is your true motivating force in electoral politics.

How the invocation of a nation’s “children and grandchildren” isn’t already an obvious, cacophonous laugh line that speechwriters dodge at every temptation is one of the greater mysteries of contemporary political rhetoric. But it survives, presumably because it scores quite well in focus groups.

Perhaps now is a good time to check the tally of political moves made in the name of America’s children and grandchildren over the last decade or two: thousands of children and grandchildren’s bodies lying dead in the Iraq desert for no reason, a financial system that operates by stealing money from everyone for a few years and then completely collapsing, and soaring youth unemployment, most likely resulting from the fact that there is no longer an economy. And have you heard that in order to not get a decent job in this nonexistent economy, one is now expected to fork over trillions of dollars in non-dischargeable predatory loans for a college diploma? This is an abridged list, folks. And it’s bizarre that the few modern measures that actually do benefit current children and grandchildren, such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, even require protracted reauthorization debates that are only resolved when a new administration comes to town.

But none of this was especially offensive — just kidding, it was — until Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, was recently selected as a candidate for vice president of the United States.

Ryan, much like ticket-topper Mitt Romney, mentions America’s children and grandchildren frequently as props to defend his budget policies that would screw over the lives of America’s children and grandchildren. It is a staple of all of his speeches, and it always emerges when discussing the national debt. “We just heard about an hour ago,” Ryan said in Iowa on Sept. 4, “that our government eclipsed the $16 trillion mark in our national debt. This is a serious threat to our economy. Of all the broken promises from President Obama, this is probably the worst one because this debt is threatening jobs today, it’s threatening prosperity today and it is guaranteeing that our children and grandchildren get a diminished future.”

And so the country’s children and grandchildren, facing this diminished future, are expected to turn to Ryan, whose policy proposals would ensure that this diminished future is expedited into a diminished present and future. Ryan’s budget plan over the next decade would add to this soaring debt that so, so burdens our weary-eyed youth by sending massive amounts of would-be tax revenue back to the aged, comfortable, wealthy top income tax brackets.

What Ryan would do next is shred the social insurance programs that middle-aged and elderly folks have enjoyed for half a century. But there’s a caveat, and a sizable one: Those who would be 55 and older at the time of Ryan plan’s passing would be able to keep things like, say, their Medicare plans, exactly the way they are right now. The profound actuarial reasoning behind this caveat is that advocates of the Ryan plan don’t want to lose political elections, and the elderly play a key part of the Republican Party’s demographic.

This — the fact that a plan is being defended as benefiting current children and grandchildren while asking nothing of current parents and grandparents — is where the Ryan plans skips from typical political exaggeration to searing immorality. Because there’s a dirty little secret about children and grandchildren: They eventually get old. And why they’d want to eliminate the most efficient means of providing healthcare for the future, older versions of themselves, while their parents and grandparents still enjoy it, is a question that Ryan has never really confronted.

Do what you will, Ryan and Romney. But please. Leave the kids out of it.

You Might Also Like

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

7 motorist-friendly camping sites

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 9

Sponsored Post

  • White River National Forest via Lower Crystal Lake, Colorado
    For those OK with the mainstream, White River Forest welcomes more than 10 million visitors a year, making it the most-visited recreation forest in the nation. But don’t hate it for being beautiful; it’s got substance, too. The forest boasts 8 wilderness areas, 2,500 miles of trail, 1,900 miles of winding service system roads, and 12 ski resorts (should your snow shredders fit the trunk space). If ice isn’t your thing: take the tire-friendly Flat Tops Trail Scenic Byway — 82 miles connecting the towns of Meeker and Yampa, half of which is unpaved for you road rebels.
    fs.usda.gov/whiteriveryou


    Image credit: Getty

  • Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest via Noontootla Creek, Georgia
    Boasting 10 wildernesses, 430 miles of trail and 1,367 miles of trout-filled stream, this Georgia forest is hailed as a camper’s paradise. Try driving the Ridge and Valley Scenic Byway, which saw Civil War battles fought. If the tall peaks make your engine tremble, opt for the relatively flat Oconee National Forest, which offers smaller hills and an easy trail to the ghost town of Scull Shoals. Scaredy-cats can opt for John’s Mountain Overlook, which leads to twin waterfalls for the sensitive sightseer in you.
    fs.usda.gov/conf


    Image credit: flickr/chattoconeenf

  • Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area via Green Road, Michigan
    The only national forest in Lower Michigan, the Huron-Mainstee spans nearly 1 million acres of public land. Outside the requisite lush habitat for fish and wildlife on display, the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness Area is among the biggest hooks for visitors: offering beach camping with shores pounded by big, cerulean surf. Splash in some rum and you just might think you were in the Caribbean.
    fs.usda.gov/hmnf


    Image credit: umich.edu

  • Canaan Mountain via Backcountry Canaan Loop Road, West Virginia
    A favorite hailed by outdoorsman and author Johnny Molloy as some of the best high-country car camping sites anywhere in the country, you don’t have to go far to get away. Travel 20 miles west of Dolly Sods (among the busiest in the East) to find the Canaan Backcountry (for more quiet and peace). Those willing to leave the car for a bit and foot it would be remiss to neglect day-hiking the White Rim Rocks, Table Rock Overlook, or the rim at Blackwater River Gorge.
    fs.usda.gov/mnf


    Image credit: Getty

  • Mt. Rogers NRA via Hurricane Creek Road, North Carolina
    Most know it as the highest country they’ll see from North Carolina to New Hampshire. What they may not know? Car campers can get the same grand experience for less hassle. Drop the 50-pound backpacks and take the highway to the high country by stopping anywhere on the twisting (hence the name) Hurricane Road for access to a 15-mile loop that boasts the best of the grassy balds. It’s the road less travelled, and the high one, at that.
    fs.usda.gov/gwj


    Image credit: wikipedia.org

  • Long Key State Park via the Overseas Highway, Florida
    Hiking can get old; sometimes you’d rather paddle. For a weekend getaway of the coastal variety and quieter version of the Florida Keys that’s no less luxe, stick your head in the sand (and ocean, if snorkeling’s your thing) at any of Long Key’s 60 sites. Canoes and kayaks are aplenty, as are the hot showers and electric power source amenities. Think of it as the getaway from the typical getaway.
    floridastateparks.org/longkey/default.cfm


    Image credit: floridastateparks.org

  • Grand Canyon National Park via Crazy Jug Point, Arizona
    You didn’t think we’d neglect one of the world’s most famous national parks, did you? Nor would we dare lead you astray with one of the busiest parts of the park. With the Colorado River still within view of this cliff-edge site, Crazy Jug is a carside camper’s refuge from the troops of tourists. Find easy access to the Bill Hall Trail less than a mile from camp, and descend to get a peek at the volcanic Mt. Trumbull. (Fear not: It’s about as active as your typical lazy Sunday in front of the tube, if not more peaceful.)
    fs.usda.gov/kaibab


    Image credit: flickr/Irish Typepad

  • As the go-to (weekend) getaway car for fiscally conscious field trips with friends, the 2013 MINI Convertible is your campground racer of choice, allowing you and up to three of your co-pilots to take in all the beauty of nature high and low. And with a fuel efficiency that won’t leave you in the latter, you won’t have to worry about being left stranded (or awkwardly asking to go halfsies on gas expenses).


    Image credit: miniusa.com

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 9

Related Videos

Comments

 8 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username ( settings | log out )

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
We crush them with debt to go to college -- and today, rates are actually set to double. Are we out of our minds?
3283 points3284 points | 4078 comments
vote
Before Edward Snowden: “Sexual deviates” and the NSA - When the last major defection hit the NSA, the government smeared the leakers as gay. New documents show they lied
2683 points2684 points | 187 comments
vote
This man is still lying to America: A smoking gun shows Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is not coming clean to us -- again
770 points771 points | 43 comments
vote
We must hate our children. We crush them with debt to go to college -- and today, rates are actually set to double. Are we out of our minds?
111 points112 points | 17 comments
vote
James Clapper is still lying to America
88 points89 points | comment

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Joker": Laughing at life's deepest sorrows