Opinion

The Ryan reaction

Mitt Romney’s pick of Paul Ryan as his running mate set the stage for a crucial debate over America’s future — but Democrats are hoping to stop it before it begins.

Take what happened at the Iowa state fair yesterday: Just two days after Romney put the House Budget Committee chairman on the ticket, hecklers tried to shout Ryan down, even rushing the stage where he was speaking and reportedly punching a backer.

So much for civilized discourse.

But the attackers were one with the Team Obama message: Demonize. And distort.

Ryan’s plan “would end Medicare as we know it,” Obama campaign boss Jim Messina claimed.

Democratic Party Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Romney would force seniors to “choose between Medicare and meals.” Sen. Claire McCaskill claimed the Ryan plan would “blow up” Medicare.

It’s all nonsense, of course.

In truth, it’s the Democrats who’ve already passed $741 billion in Medicare cuts, via ObamaCare (and spent it elsewhere).

Plus, Ryan’s plan wouldn’t even affect anyone over 55. And a voucher system he proposed, the primary focus of Democrats’ assaults, would be just one option.

Now, folks can quibble over the specifics of his reforms, but no one — Democrat or Republican — can disagree that they represent the most serious attempt in years to prevent Medicare’s collapse — which is financially inevitable, absent reform.

Keep in mind, too, that it’s Mitt Romney who’ll be at the top of the ticket, not Ryan.

Yet, by recruiting Ryan, who’s also proposed budget cuts in other areas, Romney is clearly signaling that he understands the dramatic scope of America’s fiscal and economic woes — even well beyond Medicare.

In short, federal spending is unsustainable: US debt, some $16 trillion, is wildly out of control, having grown by nearly 50 percent on President Obama’s watch.

Outlays are eating up an ever-larger share of the economy — and more than a third of them are paid for with borrowed dollars.

Meanwhile, Americans have endured 8 percent-plus joblessness for 3 1/2 years, and growth stands at a paltry 1.5 percent.

Is it any wonder that Democrats hope to block real debate?