The Great Ignored Agenda

[Geee]

National Review:

Paul Ryan and House Republicans have a plan for a better way—but will anyone notice?

At a glance, it would seem a lousy time to be a politician with ideas. Republican voters tossed aside thoughtful conservative candidates in favor of an entertainer with no particular governing philosophy, whose campaign is pitching a range of policies that, when not flatly impossible, are inchoate. Democratic voters, meanwhile, opted for a candidate whose ideas — more-expansive social programs, mainly — were already collecting dust in the 1960s. (To their credit, Democrats rejected the openly socialist candidate peddling ideas that came of age with the radio altimeter and the Model T.)

For Paul Ryan, though, the desert of ideas in American politics is an opportunity. In early December 2015, Ryan, just weeks into his tenure as speaker of the House, gave a speech at the Library of Congress entitled, “Confident America.” “If we want to save the country,” he told an audience that included House and Senate GOP leaders, “then we need a mandate from the people. And if we want a mandate, then we need to offer ideas. And if we want to offer ideas, then we need to actually have ideas. And that’s where House Republicans come in.” “Our number-one goal for the next year,” he announced, “is to put together a complete alternative to the Left’s agenda.”

 

The result, rolled out over this June and July, is “A Better Way: Our Vision for a Confident America.” Comprising six different areas of focus — poverty, national security, the economy, the Constitution, health care, and tax reform — the agenda aims to articulate not what Republicans stand against, but what they stand for. In Ryan’s preferred terms, it aims to turn the GOP from an “opposition” party into a “proposition” party.

 

While Ryan’s penchant for big ideas has been a staple of his congressional career — he authored the “Roadmap for America’s Future” in 2008, and was largely responsible for the party’s 2013 “Path to Prosperity” — the effort to create a comprehensive policy agenda began in earnest in January, at the House GOP retreat in Baltimore. What followed surprised many. As Politico wrote at the time: “Retreats like this week’s pow-wow at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor are typically contentious affairs. For the past four years, lawmakers used it as an occasion to scream at John Boehner and Eric Cantor. During their last session here, however, Ryan got a standing ovation as he made commitments to [pursue] big ideas.” At the retreat, members settled on five major areas of focus (tax reform and the economy were later split up). In February, six task forces, headed by the House’s committee chairmen, were established to explore each issue area. Over the next four months, the task forces held “idea forums,” in which members gathered to identify problems and brainstorm solutions. The forums were open to all House Republicans. Some task forces, such as the Task Force on Tax Reform, held hearings with policy experts to gather more information. Task-force leaders met regularly with Ryan to provide updates, and he set the timetable, but the task forces had wide latitude to tackle the issues as they saw fit. Ultimately, each task force drafted an extensive white paper detailing specific prescriptions.

[Valin]

@Geee

The Joseph Project: In Wisconsin, a Path out of Poverty
Want to actually help the poor? Look to the GOP leaders who are forging successful, community-based solutions.
Alexandra DeSanctis
August 25, 2016

The daily grind of Washington politics may seem of little import to the man who spends every day standing on a street corner holding out an empty cup for spare change. But, as Democrats and Republicans wage a bitter war over this year’s presidential election, it’s worth remembering just how much is at stake. It has been nearly 80 years since the progressive movement began its attempt to alleviate systemic poverty with federal action: first, in the 1930s, via Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” and then, in the 1960s, via Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society.” But judging by today’s landscape, neither vision has proven adequate to the task. Today, government at both the federal and state level spends a combined $1 trillion per year on programs meant to help low-income Americans. Over the last half-century, an estimated $16 trillion has been spent in this manner. And yet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the official poverty rate in 2014 was 14.8 percent, no better than it was in 1966.

In a recent column for National Review Online, Florida senator Marco Rubio offered a possible reason for anti-poverty programs’ lack of success: “Where liberals see the world of individual and state — that individual needs must be met by an ever-expanding, top-down government — conservatives have the opportunity to promote a vision of society that embraces community-driven, grassroots solutions.”

Most leftists would have voters believe that all conservatives despise the poor and are desperate to end entitlement programs so that they can funnel more government money to big businesses. But as many Republican leaders have proven through their efforts, the GOP’s locally oriented approach is often more successful at lifting people out of poverty than are expansive welfare programs.

One such leader, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, is a staunch advocate of community-based solutions to poverty and unemployment. Moreover, in attesting to the value of local anti-poverty efforts, Johnson can point to his considerable firsthand experience. After traveling around Wisconsin during his first five years as senator — he was elected in 2010, in the wave of tea-party enthusiasm that brought many new conservative faces to Congress — Johnson realized that despite the high levels of unemployment in metropolitan areas such as Milwaukee and Madison, manufacturers across his state still had thousands of unfilled jobs. And so, seeking to solve both problems at once, Johnson partnered with a Milwaukee-area church to institute the Joseph Project, a program that recruits and trains impoverished people, connects them to potential employers, and supports their subsequent careers.

 

(Snip)

[Geee]

@Valin

 

http://www.therightreasons.net/index.php?/topic/75038-feingold-once-compared-his-life-in-politics-to-being-an-entrepreneur/

[Valin]

 

 

Now What The Left Says

 

[Valin]

@Valin

 

http://www.therightreasons.net/index.php?/topic/75038-feingold-once-compared-his-life-in-politics-to-being-an-entrepreneur/

 

 

I wasn't aware entrepreneur meant living off the government tit.

[Geee]

 

@Valin

 

http://www.therightreasons.net/index.php?/topic/75038-feingold-once-compared-his-life-in-politics-to-being-an-entrepreneur/

 

 

I wasn't aware entrepreneur meant living off the government tit.

 

 

If that's the case we have MANY entrepreneur's in this country