LTE: Why I came to the fair to make a loud statement against Ryan's plan

Letter to the editor: CCI was giving courage to Ryan opponents

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120821/OPINION04/308210025/1038/Letter-editor-CCI-giving-courage-Ryan-opponents?nclick_check=1On Aug. 13, Rep. Paul Ryan came to the Iowa State Fair to make his first campaign speech since being selected as the Republican vice presidential candidate. He came with a lot of baggage. For months he has promoted a war on the middle class, the poor and our kids.Ryan has several snake oil “cures” for the ills of our country. They include getting rid of Social Security. Instead, people could give their savings (if they have any) to the ethical bankers on Wall Street who would happily take it and “invest” it for you. If you get old and have no retirement money, try a shelter.He also promotes getting rid of Medicare. Instead, older people would get coupons to use (think buying pizza) when purchasing private health insurance. If coupons and your money aren’t enough, go without insurance. We’ll all die sometime.But Ryan tells us not to worry. These changes would only affect people under 55 years of age. It’s just a war on our kids. It won’t affect us.Ryan’s cure also includes giving the super-wealthy millions in tax breaks while raising taxes on the middle class.Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund members, including myself, came to the fair to make a loud statement against Ryan’s plan. We felt we had to publicly oppose the message and give courage to others here and beyond Iowa.— Joe Fagan, Des Moines Click LIKE and SHARE if you understand where Joe is coming from.