If the Romney/Ryan ticket wins you will find a great deal of fresh media attention devoted to a speech by Rep. Paul Ryan this week at Cleveland State University. Everything is covered as politics at this point in the campaign, and for good reason (alas), so having a relatively substantive discussion of the nature of poverty and opportunity in America is a welcome relief.
My image of candidates right now is men dressed in jeans standing by hay bales in Cedar Rapids cueing up cheer lines to a crowd of delirious partisans. But somewhere the candidates need a chance to step back and in measured tones describe their philosophy as prospective leaders of the country. Space for that appeared for Ryan in Cleveland and he elevated the state of political dialogue in response.
I won't parse the speech, but just make this observation. Unless some greater numbers of the population are able to move up in their economic life, there won't be enough tax revenue--no matter at what tax rates--to take care of those at the bottom who can't take care of themselves.
