In politics, it's generally accepted that “courage” denotes a willingness to challenge the conceits and prejudices of one's own side for the good of the country. Lyndon Johnson’s support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was courageous because of the Democratic Party’s decades long reliance on white Southerners in national elections. Likewise, Ronald Reagan’s willingness to raise taxes was courageous because of the GOP’s growing opposition to taxation, and George H.W. Bush’s willingness to sign a massive deficit-reduction bill was praiseworthy for the same reason.
By contrast, the same isn't true of supporting friendly goals or opposing ideological opponents. There wasn't much courage on display when Bob Dole voted for a balanced-budget amendment in 1995, nor was there much courage in John Kerry’s opposition to the Iraq War surge in 2007. These choices might have been hard -- though I doubt it -- but given the circumstances, they weren’t particularly “courageous.”
All of this is to say that I'm tired of pundits lauding Paul Ryan for his “courage”/“boldness”/gutsiness in tackling Medicare and Medicaid. Ryan is a conservative Republican with an open hostility to entitlement programs; that he wants to slash Medicaid, privatize Medicare, and cut taxes on the wealthy is par for the course. Indeed, given the irrelevance of poor people to the electoral fortunes of Republicans, and the plan’s exemptions for current Medicare beneficiaries -- who can remain on their coverage -- it’s more than clear that the “Path to Prosperity” is an exercise in political banality.
To be fair, there's something to be said for politicians who challenge a widely held but erroneous view of public policy, or those who buck the elite consensus in favor of doing the right thing. Russ Feingold’s votes against the Patriot Act and the Authorization of the Use of Military Force comes to mind. Paul Ryan has done neither of these things; as we can see with the effusive praise of his proposal, political elites are more than happy to cut entitlements. And with his assertions that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are on the road to doom, Ryan isn’t really challenging Republican orthodoxy.
So, with that said, say what you will about the "Path to Prosperity." If you think it's awesome, please, make the case. But, for the sake of words and meaning, let's stop pretending like this is an instance of political courage. It's really not.
