abstract engineer blogspot

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Wednesday, 6 April 2011

The Ryan Plan

Posted on 06:08 by hony
Look, what Freddie said. Exactly what Freddie said.

But a couple of weeks ago I suggested that we all need to start looking for the good in each other. I wrote: "People are idiots. People are hypocrites. People are greedy and self-serving and stuck in their ways. People are spiteful. People are egomaniacal or narcissistic or both. But if we all start focusing on the good in each other: people can sacrifice, people can work hard, people can respect each other, people can laugh and cry and hug each other...if we start seeing those things, it becomes easier for us to work with them, and they with us. In short, it becomes easier to work together and stop mucking up the future."

I stand by that. And so, I rarely do this, but I have to agree with Megan McCardle when she says:
That means that any real budget deal is going to have to, somehow, bridge the gap between Republicans and Democrats.  The Ryan plan is fine as a starting point for talks.  It is not fine if the GOP refuses to accept that it cannot also be the ending point.

My personal opinion is that the Ryan plan is awful. It's the same old conservative cronyism that made me excited about my Obama vote in 2008. I can't turn my back on the poor "for the sake of the country." We're all in this together, and as I suggested by analogy, those who reap the largest harvest due to American Freedom should sow the most seeds next spring.
But nevertheless, in my engineering group we operate under the credo "the more bad ideas the better" because from those bad ideas we can dialogue and eventually find a good one. So while I will not possibly ever think that Paul Ryan's budget proposal is anywhere near "reality" I will say that I am glad ideas are being profferred, and I am doubly glad those ideas have spawned copious dialogue. Now, whether that dialogue leads to compromise...that's the tough question.


_
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to Facebook
Posted in | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • In which I criticize the antiquated feelings of Ye Olde Mechanikal Engineer
    In a Lawrence Journal World blog, Dave Klamet writes about changing trends in education, especially the increasing competitiveness of non-A...
  • The End of an Era
    Last night, the beginning of the end of the laptop officially began . Sure the iPad has been around...but with nearly 30 tablets debuting at...
  • I promise to stop writing about STEM soon. Just not yet.
    Imagine you are a tech company that makes widgets. You've gotten a factory in China to make the parts for the widgets for a tiny amount....
  • Schadenfreude
    Ran into a kid that bullied me from elementary school all the way up through my junior year of high school. He's really fat now, and dri...
  • Ross Vs. Gay Marriage
    Listening to Ross Douthat (a Catholic) try to explain that the institution of marriage will be damaged by allowing gays to marry just seems...
  • Links
    I've been terribly swamped with work the last week, and when I wasn't working, I was loudly defending gun rights. Subsequently, the ...
  • Staying abreast of technology
    TAE thinks that it is a good idea to embrace every new technology that emerges, be it Twitter, Facebook, mp3s, tablet PCs, and now the new M...
  • flash on the Droid
    made posting this much easier.
  • Being Randomly At A Movie Isn't "True Heroism'
    Now I realize I am probably making no friends when I post this, but I did feel strongly about it. What exactly makes the victims of the Auro...
  • Apex Predator Predation
    So it's a tragedy if African Lions are being massively depopulated, and "there has to be a political commitment to protect wildlif...

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (41)
    • ►  July (4)
    • ►  June (7)
    • ►  May (4)
    • ►  April (6)
    • ►  March (8)
    • ►  February (8)
    • ►  January (4)
  • ►  2012 (91)
    • ►  December (8)
    • ►  November (5)
    • ►  October (11)
    • ►  September (8)
    • ►  August (8)
    • ►  July (3)
    • ►  June (10)
    • ►  May (12)
    • ►  April (3)
    • ►  March (9)
    • ►  February (10)
    • ►  January (4)
  • ▼  2011 (205)
    • ►  December (11)
    • ►  November (14)
    • ►  October (10)
    • ►  September (18)
    • ►  August (18)
    • ►  July (10)
    • ►  June (15)
    • ►  May (11)
    • ▼  April (32)
      • Evolutionary Difficulties
      • TAE's DIY Arduino Sous Vide Cooker - Part VI: Ambr...
      • Your Phone vs. Occam's Razor
      • Because it's "4/20" - A quick word on drug legaliz...
      • Quote for the Day
      • Deep Thought
      • TAE's DIY Arduino Sous Vide Cooker - Part V: The S...
      • TAE's DIY Arduino Sous Vide Cooker - Part IV: Images
      • On Birtherism, Ctd
      • Curbing College Costs by Ending University Athletics
      • On Birtherism
      • The Future Loses
      • A Better Way To Cut College Costs
      • Curbing College Costs
      • TAE's DIY Arduino Sous Vide Cooker - An Update
      • In which I have to disagree with Jonah Lehrer, yet...
      • The Giving Tree/Charlie Bucket's Grandpa
      • TAE's DIY Arduino Sous Vide Cooker - Part III: The...
      • Vanity
      • Emo Moment of the Day
      • Matt Yglesias
      • Gas Tax, Ctd
      • Holy Cow What A Pinhead: Gas Tax Edition
      • The Fallacy of Oil Prices Spurring Mass Transit
      • TAE's DIY Steampunk Goggles
      • The Ethics of (not) Voting, Ctd
      • The Ryan Plan
      • Modern Non-fiction
      • The Internet on Your Brain
      • A New Environmental Policy
      • Why I'm Quitting Blogging, Ctd.
      • Why I'm Quitting Blogging
    • ►  March (24)
    • ►  February (16)
    • ►  January (26)
  • ►  2010 (163)
    • ►  December (20)
    • ►  November (20)
    • ►  October (23)
    • ►  September (28)
    • ►  August (28)
    • ►  July (29)
    • ►  June (15)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

hony
View my complete profile