Some proponents of limited government understandably yearn to see Mitt Romney’s recently announced running mate, Paul Ryan, as something like the pure intellectual descendent of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. Some on the left, meanwhile, will be tempted to portray him as a heartless monster who only wants to enrich the 1 percent. Paul Ryan the politician is more complex than either portrait. Far from throwing granny under the bus, his efforts at budget reform are an essential step in saving Social Security and Medicare, along with improving the long-term fiscal health of the nation. On the other hand, and although his American Conservative Union score is a solid 91.69, he did vote for TARP, the bank bailout, and the auto bailout–government intrusions he has said he now partially regrets.
The personal side of Paul Ryan also doesn’t fit neatly into many preconceived categories. His extended family is financially successful, but he lost his father when he was 16, attended a public university, and worked a variety of summer and side jobs during and after college to make ends meet. As a teenager he helped take care of his grandmother who had Alzheimer’s.
He’s a socially conservative Catholic, and a fan of grunge rock, Beethoven, Led Zeppelin, and Hank Williams, Jr. He’s an outdoorsman who bow hunts, does his own skinning and butchering, and kills catfish with his bare hands. And he’s married with three children, with a wife, Janna, who is a stay-at-home mom with degrees from Wellesley and George Washington University.
For more, here is a piece in which Ryan discusses his votes for TARP and the bailouts; here is a breakout of the American Conservative Union’s 91.69 conservative score for Ryan; and here is a short biography.
UPDATE: The Janesville Gazette has just published an Extra that pulls together their local pieces on Ryan and Janesville along with some national stories and policy resources–a nice one stop resource.
