Pistol Pete on Keeping the House

Pete continues to be the most realistic of the Republican bloggers.

1. The Republican House is in danger because of the Democrats’ advantage on Medicare.

2. The Democrats are getting away with murder by framing the issue as what we have now—“traditional” Medicare vs. radical reform in the “voucher” direction.

3. The real issue is what kind of cuts we’re going to have.

4. Republican politicians need to listen to Yuval Levin and James Capretta. Capretta is particularly good in explaining that the central issue is the demographic one, which isn’t going to be turned around any time soon. Can people be convinced of that? There won’t be enough productive young people to pay for what the burgeoning number of old people have now.

5. The attention shouldn’t be on the constitutional issue. Nobody’s a Progressive here. If it weren’t for the demographic issue, nobody would be clamoring for entitlement reform. The real issue is how to best manage what has to be done to make government smaller in the most effective way, in a way that sustains Medicare under today’s circumstances.