THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

In a reshuffle of the usual worthless clap-trap Republicans pass off as financial savvy, self proclaimed economic whizz Lyin' Paul Ryan has come up with a new way to screw the poors and exalt his Goddess Ayn Rand.

Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, outlined a plan to combat poverty Thursday that would consolidate a dozen programs into a single “Opportunity Grant” that largely shifts anti-poverty efforts from the federal government to the states.

Mr. Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee and a leading voice in his party on fiscal matters, said in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute that the federal government represents the “rear guard — it protects the supply lines. The people on the ground, they’re the vanguard. They fight poverty on the front lines.”

Mr. Ryan’s proposal gives new policy backbone to Republicans’ recent promises to address poverty and is part of a broader political strategy to increase the party’s appeal. This has given Mr. Ryan, the Republican nominee for vice president in 2012, the opportunity to show that he and his party are as concerned about the poor as Democrats are while offering a dramatically different approach to addressing poverty.

His plan includes a mix of both traditional Republican tax proposals to expand the earned-income tax credit and reduce regulations and some new commitments to reducing criminal sentencing and recidivism.

Other Republicans, like Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who, like Mr. Ryan are considering a 2016 presidential run, have echoed his broad call to broaden their party’s appeal. Mr. Rubio spoke about broken families at Catholic University in Washington yesterday, and Mr. Paul will address the National Urban League in Cincinnati tomorrow.

Mr. Ryan tumbled somewhat awkwardly into the anti-poverty discussion this year when he said a “tailspin of culture in our inner cities” perpetuated poverty, a comment that Democrats and some African-American groups called racist. But since then, Mr. Ryan has appeared to try to make amends, traveling the country to listen to Americans in poorer cities as he prepared to unveil this proposal.

The beauty of this plan lets Lyin' Paul make a big show of giving funds to the states like the good Christian he is and let's the states short change the needy and siphon off large amounts to favored supporters. He remains above all the sordid details and can appear Christ like in his "efforts" for the unfortunate.