Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: The Next Steps

Today, Mitt Romney formally announced Paul Ryan as his running-mate in the 2012 presidential election. This is an interesting decision on many fronts, underscoring the choice between fiscal change and spending reductions, and Keynesian policies and spending increases from who we choose as President this year.

Actually, before the news leaked last night about Ryan receiving the nod, I would have liked to have seen Marco Rubio get the nomination for Vice President. My feeling is the Republicans need to to a better job at embracing and showing the nation that they want minority figures taking top positions in government. Latinos are going to start making a large part of the voting block, and the Republicans will need their help. I thought about it some more since then, though, and I think leaving Rubio in the Senate is key for many reasons, which may help Republicans take the next steps. Some of those key reasons include:

• Needing Senators there that can finally pass a budget!
• Rubio has some campaign issues he is dealing with that could cause some problems.
• Paul Ryan is from Wisconsin, where the State has shown some guts in passing austerity measures.
• But mostly, and I think Republicans should start mulling this over, Rubio could be made the next Senate Majority Leader if Republicans take the Senate. If they don't, I think they ought to put him in the Minority Leader spot.

By putting Rubio in such a position, I think the Republicans would gain a fair amount by showing they are committed to letting Latinos and other minorities take on key roles, which is important to a large cross-section of American voters.

We will be researching Paul Ryan over the next while, so stay tuned to find out more about this man who's political career got started at a very young age.

Reply: The Election, my final reflections

The thing that makes me more calm are the statistics for voter turnout.  This time America really did come out and speak their voice, with over 110 million votes and over 66% voter turnout.  I believe in the democratic-republic system so geniusly prescribed by Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Washington, and the other founding fathers, and if that system elected Barack Obama in the end, then I believe as all of you do that we can only rally behind our new president in patriotism, supporting him where we agree and opposing him where we differ in ideals.

Something else I realized last night.  I really can't complain about my life so far, most everything has been good.  There are a few notable catastrophic events that took place such as the Gulf War, the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11, and Columbine, but overall the economies have always been good, there has never been a draft, and the information revolution occurred while I was still young, so I have been able to be a participant in practically the whole of it.

Interestingly, I was born during the Regan administration which totaled the first 5 years of my life.  Then we had Bush senior, making 9 years of my life under a Republican president.  Then we had Clinton for 8 years, and then Bush for another 8 years, totaling 17 of my 25 years under a Republican.  With this in mind I am interested to see what 4 added years to the democrat side of the equation will bring.  I will be 29 when the next election for president is held.  What am I going to accomplish for myself, my family, and my country in those 4 years?

It will be interesting to see if other Americans are asking the same questions about themselves ("ask what you can do for your country") or if they will be asking what their new president and government will do for them ("ask what your country can do for you").  While I am excited to see that Americans on both sides became more involved this time, they have yet to prove that they will stand up and take action for themselves to improve their lives and their situation.  I guess time will tell.

Tijs

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Tijs Limburg