Sunday, April 6, 2014

VON RYAN'S EXCESS

As he approaches completing the sixteenth year of his $175,000/year, part-time position - you can hardly call what Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan does a job - he has glommed on to the audacity of some of his Republican colleagues that describe certain communities in the inner cities as not knowing the culture of work.  If there is one obvious community in America that does not know the culture of real work, it is the Washington, DC community of the 535 persons to which Paul Ryan belongs.

I am sure that many of the people whom Ryan, and his senatorial colleague Rand Paul, choose to denigrate regarding work would be willing to represent their community by putting in more than a full-time work schedule, with a lot less days off than Mr. Ryan receives, for half the salary and less perks and benefits.  Though in fairness to Ryan and his GOP brethren, I am also sure it is extremely painstaking and backbreaking to have to beg people for hundreds and thousands of dollars, on their many days and hours off, just to try and keep their cushy part-time gig.

I see lots of formerly hard working New Yorkers asking for mere fractions of dollars just to get a cup of coffee and a sandwich.  So I can only imagine the grueling toll it takes on Congressman Ryan to sit at home on the weekends, with his feet up, talking on the phone, trying to get other people to raise money for him.  After all, that reported $200,000 he earned in 2011 from his investment in a mineral company, his six figure salary, and his nearly $8,000,000 net worth could disappear in an instant, much like the savings, jobs and pensions of millions of Americans who were bilked by the financial institutions Mr. Ryan sees no need to regulate.  That would surely jeopardize the well-being of his family if he is unable to continue representing his hometown Wisconsin congressional district.

Hiring a staff to listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck so that he knows what to say on the Sunday talk shows must be extremely stressful part-time work.  And being just one of 435 in a country of more than 300 million people can only be a testament to how important Mr. Ryan is.

It requires a very special talent to pay owners to move their companies overseas, impoverish American workers and convince those newly unemployed, bankruptcy seeking, foreclosed on, evicted Americans that it was in their best interests and the best interests of our country, that their hard-working financial contributions to family, community and national wealth were a burden to America's greatness and that some unknown persons, thousands of miles away are more deserving of rifles and tanks, courtesy of the good old US of A, than a laid off worker's child deserves a bowl of soup and a sandwich.  This is why he asks for your support and your vote.

Dissecting the intricacies and benefits of Paul Ryan's budgetary plans are so difficult and complex that those who disagree, especially those in "culturally non-working inner city communities" should not even be allowed to vote.  Also those who should not be allowed to vote are the thousands of Mr. Ryan's Wisconsin neighbors whose fundamental right to bargain for fair wages and benefits have been stripped with the full support of their Janesville representative.

Is it chutzpah or mere hypocrisy that allows Paul Ryan to betray that long held union policy while his own salary, benefits and pension package is, basically dependent on his own hands and those of his other 534 "union" members in Washington, DC who stand to benefit most from it?  Is it chutzpah or hypocrisy that enables Congressman Ryan's disdain for a minimum wage increase for the below poverty working class while championing tax breaks and subsidies for multi-million and multi-billion dollar companies that keep those workers in poverty?  And is it chutzpah or mere hypocrisy that drives Mr. Ryan's concern for the deficit and national debt that, allegedly, has given the working poor too much and the filthy rich too little?

Regardless, Paul Ryan's American dream is secure.  Should he choose to walk out on his lucrative part-time position, or get voted out, there will be plenty of offices on K Street ready to turn his six figure salaried sphere of influence into seven figures wherein he may continue to stifle the millions of American citizens whose American dream is to work a decent job for a fair and decent salary, send their children to college, enjoy the occasional vacation, and play with their grandchildren on birthdays and holidays without fear that their next toothache, headache, chest pain or nasal drip might be severe enough to force their family into a homeless shelter in a culturally jobless community.

3 comments:

Mama Sola said...

With your sardonic touch, you touched a raw nerve with Americans, and I thank you for posting such a powerful essay not only about Paul Ryan, but also about the wealthy in the U.S. who maintain a sense of complete entitlement at the expense of the middle and working classes. Well done.

dbranchreeves.com said...

Well done!! You've turned the corner and I must say I rather enjoy this new leaf!

Dottie

Keith said...

This piece really pulls back the covers of Paul Ryan and the like. Thanks Calvin for another insightful and well written tell it like it is.