For the past two years, I've been impressed with Rep. Paul Ryan's approach to fixing Medicare. To my mind, he is the rare political leader who has spent years personally studying alternatives, and who has truly shown a willingness to reach across the aisle and engage in the long-lost art of bipartisanship.
Ryan's partnership with Rep. Ron Wyden (D-OR) in introducing the Ryan Wyden Medicare Plan is one example of what we need more of in Washington.
Our constitutional republic was forged in the crucible of vigorous bipartisanship: strong-willed leaders with widely differing worldviews listening to, learning from and persuading one another and ultimately settling upon a solution set that could work. Over 236 years later, despite all its flaws, it's still the best plan ever conceived by man. But it cannot survive without a spirit of bipartisanship.
I'm sick of voices on both sides assailing the temerity of these congressmen daring to work in a collaborative way to save such a critical program as Medicare. It's time for some adults to stand up, lay down the rhetoric and begin to forge viable solutions together.
I found this short article to be a helpful summary of what the Ryan Wyden Medicare Plan actually proposes.