Paul Ryan’s Speech, A Glimmer of Hope, with A Lot of Promise(s)
Tim Bean
8/30/2012
Last night was Republican Vice-Presidential Nominee, Paul Ryan’s big night. It was his turn to stand before the Republican Party delegation, and of course all of us who tuned in via television, radio, internet, or I guess even smoke signal, and present his arguments as to why any and all of us should vote for he and Mitt Romney this coming November 6th.
I could go into another discussion on how not just his, but many of the speakers at the convention thus far have invoked the founding principles of our country, which are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” but that would be me basically rewriting yesterday’s article, and that would be cheating a little, don’t you think? So instead, I am going to just tell you how I felt about his speech, in general terms – a critique if you will.
First of all I am not ashamed to admit that I liked the general tone of the speech, which was by and large positive, other than the times he went after President Obama. However, even in those times he followed up his disapproval of the current administration’s performance and record, with the kind of “Yes We Can” spirit that President Obama used in 2008, when he was then only candidate/Senator Obama. I know many Republican’s out there will not like me evoking the sitting President’s 2008 slogan here, but I am just relating how I interpreted the tone.
I think anyone who has been even marginally paying attention to things in our country would say that most of the news has not exactly been rosy for the past four or five years. I don’t think it takes a psychologist, or psychiatrist to figure out that when just about the only news you hear waivers between bad, and less bad, then that definitely takes a toll on not just the individual’s, but society’s psyche. It feeds unto itself and becomes a figurative dark cloud hanging over everyone and everything. My point here is that Paul Ryan’s speech was more about the positives of this country and its people. It (his speech) was an attempt to be that lone ray of sunshine that peaks through the storm clouds. Of course this all depends on your political leanings. I am sure that if you are a dyed in the wool “blue” person, then you might have seen his speech differently. Conversely, if you are a “red” person then you were probably elated. Finally, if you are neither “red,” nor “blue” then you might have been prone to having thoughts that were again related in yesterday’s article. As far as style and by that I mean how Paul Ryan delivered his speech, I think at times his cadence was a little staid, and staccato like, but I know I wouldn’t have appeared as calm on such a big stage.
So, that is the softball stuff, let’s get on to some meatier stuff. Again, without rehashing too much of what I have already written, I will just say this. Should Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan win this election, then I hope you guys do stay true to your words (we haven’t had Mitt’s yet, he speaks tonight) and the claims of restoring liberty to the individuals. Anyone who has read many of my other articles already know my skepticism, doubts, and disbelief about the GOP’s claim of being the party for individual freedoms. I certainly hope that should you two happen to win this election that you truly are for the repeal of “Obamacare.” Should you two find your way into the executive branch, I would like to believe that you will present concrete proof to your pledge of a smaller, less intrusive government. However, if you fiddle faddle around with any of these promises and claims to fame, then I can almost assure you both that you too will be one term residents on Pennsylvania Ave. More and more people are growing tired of having their lives dictated to them by a behemoth bureaucratic monster; I give you the Ron Paul and Tea Party people of your party as examples of this. I don’t think that either group will continue to try and influence the GOP’s platform if they continue to feel left out, ignored, and only having their libertarian ideals only given lip service to. So, please remember what you said, like you have demonstrated your abilities to remember what candidate and now President Obama said, because it just won’t be the Democrats who will remember in 2016, it will be the people too.
Ain’t it funny how many hundreds of thousands of soldiers we can recruit with nerve. But we just can’t find one politician in a million with backbone. (Will Rogers)
