The political campaign of 2012 is in full swing, one can consider the point of demarcation as the release of Rep. Paul Ryan’s Budget Proposal. The Good Doctor (TGD) here demonstrates his fealty to the central ideas of Neo-Conservatism, a now, notorious political theology. Can one even associate the theory and practice of Neo-Conservatism with the any conception of the idea of ‘Modernity’? Or can it simply be thought of as a pernicious political nostalgia for what never was: a kind of Platonic Idealism, echoing the authoritarianism of The Republic? TGD offers proof of his party loyalty in rhetorical form, by this hymn of praise to the central notions of Mr. Ryan’s budget: that maintaining the deficit to 1.6 percent of GDP by 2021 is a laudable goal. One might just ask at what social cost? But is the Neo-Conservative thinker even able to frame such a question as legitimate, even as mere policy conjecture? Other more able economic thinkers and policy planners, like Paul Krugman and Matt Miller, have answered questions about the social costs of the Ryan Plan, in some detail. We can only expect from TGD a very real campaign document, a set of arguments putting in the best light, a ‘forward looking’ even ‘ visionary’ set of economic proposals. TGD’s title ‘The grand compromise’ has a bloated histrionic ring, perfect for the striking thirty second television spot , attacking the trans-generational economic irresponsibility of the Democratic Party and, of course, the perennial other Barak Obama. As demonstrative of a pernicious American Socialism, that saps the initiative and innovation of its citizens. Rep. Ryan then becomes, in the essay, the bearer of Puritan Virtue : the mythical center of our national life.
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