Hmm, could this be a plank in a 2016 Presidential run?
I didn't expect him to tackle criminal-justice reform, for example,
but his plan calls for softening mandatory-minimum sentences for
non-violent drug offenders.
I didn't expect the plan to include
higher-education reform, but it has several worthy ideas, from reforming
the accreditation process so more innovative schools can emerge to
simplifying financial-aid forms.
Getting rid of mandatory minimum's for non-violent drug offenses have always seemed like a liberal red-meat issue. The law-and-order GOP would not dream of letting people incarcerated for like 1 ounce of marijuana off of the hook. It would certainly get quite a few people out of jail and on to productive lives if Ryan had a chance to implement it.
The second thing might take care of the drop-out factory colleges out there preying on poor kids who just go into debt and receive nothing at all for their trouble. The financial aid form simplification would also help quite a few kids as well. This part might not pass muster with Dems though:
Ryan's most attention-getting proposal would consolidate a range of
federal anti-poverty programs into a block grant distributed to the
states. The federal government would merely set a few conditions.
Perhaps most important, able-bodied aid recipients would have to work or
participate in work-related activities (such as looking for a job). I'm
skeptical about how innovative state governments would really be with
federal money, but it's a good idea to streamline these programs and add
work requirements.
I think states understand how to deal with their poverty problems in a better way than with the Federal Government. Like using the money to fix schools and provide meals instead of some Washington bureaucrat trying to figure out a one-size-fits-all solution.
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