How Paul Ryan's Policies Will Hurt Latinos

As American voters size up Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick, Rep. Paul Ryan, Stephen A. Nuño has some words of caution for everyone, especially Latinos, on NBC Latino. Many on the left are dismissing Ryan -- but he's smarter than Sarah Palin and his policies may be lethal if given teeth in the White House.

The only question now is whether or not Ryan's promise as a Tea Party hero will be enough to overcome Romney's smothering personality. McCain was a good guy who got undercut by the assumption that anyone elected as a governor, of anything, wouldn't be completely vexed by questions about what she likes to read.

But the Democrats won't be so lucky this time around. Ryan has a solid grasp of what he's doing, and by picking him as his VP, Romney has taken ownership of not only the cost-cutting policies of Paul Ryan, but the underlying values of those policies.

And if any ethnic-minority thinks it has anything to do with bringing America back to prosperity, they are the ones who have no idea what he's doing. While Ryan's budget proposals seem innocuous enough, if morally numb, they will have deep consequences for Latinos if those policies are ever implemented.

Just to give you one example, Medicare reform will have a great impact on the future wellness of Latinos. Latinos make up a young population with a median age of 27 years, while the median age of non-Hispanic whites is 42 years old. This means that the vast majority of the population that is retired is non-Hispanic white, and by extension, the vast majority of Medicare recipients are also non-Hispanic white.

Read Stephen A. Nuño's entire op-ed at NBC Latino.

The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.

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