Republicans in Congress unveiled their vision for America today, and if they succeed, the 99 percent of us are condemned to live like serfs. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, himself a multimillionaire, released his blueprint budget for fiscal year 2013 which includes massive cuts to food stamps, student loans, Medicaid, and Social Security.
The budget also dismantles Medicare as we know it -- transforming an insurance program into a voucher program, leaving millions of senior citizens on their own to deal with for-profit health insurance companies.
And in a nod to the Republican Party's super-rich members like himself, Ryan proposes enormous tax breaks for the 1 percent -- lowering the top income tax rate from 35 percent down to 25 percent. According to the Tax Policy Center -- Ryan's budget would give $3 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans -- all paid for by cutting spending on education, healthcare, and Medicare. Congressman Ryan said about his budget, "It's up to the people to demand ... a choice between two futures. The question is which future will you choose?"
That is the question indeed -- will we choose the future in which a middle class can thrive again in America like it did for 50 years after the New Deal until Ronald Reagan blew everything up?
Or -- will we choose Paul Ryan's path to an Ayn Rand dystopia, in which only the super-wealthy can go to good schools and see doctors, and everyone else is left with what trickles down from the tables of the rich?