Is everyone knowledgeable about the Paul Ryan budget? It”s the Republicans” guiding star. Mitt Romney has called it “marvelous.”

Under Ryan”s plan, taxes will go down and the budget will be balanced using “cuts only” to the safety net and to regular government programs.

With lower taxes at the top, the net worth of the wealthy will continue to grow faster than that in other parts of the population. Ryan envisions the end of the estate (inheritance) tax. That means great wealth will become dynastic wealth, similar to the Rockefeller-Vanderbilt age 100 years ago. Will new billionaires use their wealth to influence politics? Certainly some will, but not for our benefit.

The Ryan budget calls for government”s “discretionary spending” to be cut to 3.75 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2050. Average spending in that category has always been about 8 percent of GDP.

It”s a category that contains defense, the FBI, the CIA, border and air security, national parks, student loans and grants, scientific research, consumer protection, health research, highway construction and maintenance, air traffic control, food stamps, unemployment insurance and so on. If Republicans want a strong military, that means spending the historic average of 3 percent of GDP for it, leaving an incredible .75 percent of GDP for all the rest. Are they serious?

In addition, safety-net programs will be cut way back for our kids and grandkids.

This is why some commentators have called the modern Republican Party a “revolutionary” party. It wants to completely change the United States as we know it. It”s not an overstatement to say the Republican plan would take us back to the 1920s. Unlike any other developed country, we will have a few super-wealthy dynastic families overseeing a population without significant services or a safety net.

That”s why this is an election of destiny.

Jack Batson

Fairfield