Today on AirTalk, we take a closer look at GOP Vice Presidential pick Paul Ryan, dissect the Olympic success of the U.S. team and female athletes from all countries, and debate the pros and cons of Florida's Religious Freedom Amendment.
Romney gets his wing man in Paul Ryan
Over the weekend, presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced his pick for vice president: it’s Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan, 42, a seven-term congressman who started his career as a 19-year-old intern and rose to become a major architect of the GOP’s fiscal platform.
In choosing Ryan, Romney has put the nation’s debate about the role of the federal government front and center in the campaign. Ryan’s budget proposal last year called for an overhaul of Medicaid, allowing states to switch to a voucher system that many feel imperils seniors. It also advocated Social Security reform, allowing younger workers to allocate their contributions to the stock market instead.
Those squarely in Romney’s camp might cheer the selection of this young, charismatic self-made man who still lives in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin and talks farm bill on his cell phone while deer hunting. But is Romney effectively adopting Ryan’s fiscal proposals? And how will that play with seniors, especially in retiree-heavy states like Florida? A recent AARP survey shows for those nearing retirement, financial security and health care costs top the lists of worries. The number of swing voters – independents and those undeclared – is nearing a third of the electorate.
Will a Romney/Ryan ticket galvanize the GOP, as is obviously the hope? Or will it drive Romney’s less conservative supporters into the Obama camp? What could Ryan’s economic policies mean to you?
Guests:
David Mark, Politix, Editor-in-Chief and author, Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning
Jonathan Wilcox, Republican Strategist; former speech writer for Governor Pete Wilson
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; former senior Obama advisor in 2008, who now runs the Los Angeles office for the Dewey Square Group
Dylan Roby, Assistant Professor of Health and Policy Management at UCLA
Joseph Antos, Health Economist for American Enterprise Institute; former assistant director for Health and Human Resources at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
From London to Rio de Janeiro
As Olympic athletes pack up from the London 2012 Summer Games, the focus now turns to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro.
The UK games were a resounding success and NBC, who took a beating on social media for its delayed, edited coverage, had such great television ratings that the network will actually make a small profit for its coverage.
American women athletes also cleaned up in the medal count – for the first time, there were more female U.S. athletes than male athletes.
Maureen Smith, Professor of Sport History at CSU Sacramento, said that the numbers of girls in sports have been continually on the rise, as well as the number of women watching the Olympic Games.
"A lot of people talk about how women really love to be Olympic viewers and they say it's because women want to hear these personal stories. I would suggest maybe women are watching because it's one of the few times they actually get to watch women play sports on TV," she said.
Smith added that NBC should continue airing women's sports, and groups like the U.S. Olympic soccer team should capitalize on their current popularity. "With the world cup in Canada in two years, I think it would be great if people – men, women, kids – were able to see woman's soccer more than every four years," she continued.
The women also raked in the gold with 29 top-of-the-podium medals. If matched as a country, the U.S. would have ranked behind China’s 38 gold medals and tied with Great Britain, which took home 29.
David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians, noted that unlike other countries with major medal wins, the U.S. had medals concentrated in two sports. "Specifically, 60 percent of the medals won by Americans were in either swimming or track and field. If you look at Russia, China, Germany – it's more divided among different sports," he detailed.
He posited that the fact the U.S. is the only major country without government funding of sports influences its outcome in the Olympics.
"We're a large, wealthy, country, and there are certain sports where the United States should excel, perhaps once did excel, and no longer does. Back into the 50s and even the 60s, the United States was a big power in weightlifting," he started. "Now, if you're a big strong person, particularly a male, you're going to ... be a football player, because you can make money and gain glory. In other countries, such as Bulgaria, Turkey, even Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, you can be a champion weightlifter and you're going to be a national hero and appear on the stands."
What does the success of these games mean for future Olympic teams? With athletic programs feeling the pinch of budget cuts, will these games help future athletes? And what will the ripple effect be of these games on the 2016 Rio de Janeiro competitions?
Guest:
Maureen Smith, Professor of Sport History in the Kinesology and Health Science Department, California State University, Sacramento
David Wallechinsky, president of the International Society of Olympic Historians and author of The Complete Book of the Olympics (Aurum Press)
Florida testing separation of church & state
Voters in Florida are considering amending their state's constitution.
Currently, Florida law bans state funding of faith-based institutions. But the Religious Freedom Amendment (a.k.a. Amendment 8) seeks to change that. It stems primarily from a pending court case in the state.
A humanist organization says taxpayer money is funding Christian ministries in Florida prisons in violation of the state's constitution. Juan Zapata of "Yes on 8" says many religious charities provide high-quality services and sometimes are the only willing provider of services to those in need. He points to Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, food pantries and the myriad religiously-affiliated hospitals.
Opponents to Amendment 8 say it would violate the separation of church and state. They also believe it would lead to taxpayer-funded religious schools. Rabbi Merrill Shapiro told Fox News, "[Ultimately] Muslims will be paying for Catholic education. Catholics will be paying for Hindu education. Hindus will be paying to educate Buddhists. Buddhists will be paying to educate Presbyterians. Presbyterians will be paying to educate Jews....We'll all be forced into this."
Shapiro, who also serves as the President of the Board of Directors of Americans United, said those against the amendment “want to makes sure a Christian prison ministry does not tout or attempt to influence the people it is serving to a certain religious point of view.”
But the contention around the proposed amendment is not solely about faith-based service programs, but about the educational voucher system. Shapiro cited the 2006 case, Holmes versus Bush, that is at the center of the current amendment 8 dispute.
The linchpin for the now infamous case was the use of taxpayer supported scholarships – known as Opportunity Scholarships – to send a student to a religious academy so he may later enter the Christian ministry. The state granted the student the money only to be later sued because Florida’s Blaine law had been violated.
The Blaine law dictates “the state may not write checks to religious institutions,” Shapiro said.
“The state lost [Homes v. Bush], and since that loss the state has been trying to remove that language and this amendment would remove that language so the state can go ahead and give money – our tax money – to any religious organization it wishes,” he said.
The policy director for Step up for Students, a scholarship program for low-income students, Jon East, said the support of amendment 8 is “consistent with the beliefs of those who support school vouchers” but educational vouchers would remain invalid because of other laws within the Florida constitution.
“If there were no court cases pending, it might be advisable to leave well enough alone. But there is this court case, and in fact, the group from New York that brought this court case has called it a springboard for other challenges,” East said. “I think there is some concern that these activities – that I think generally like-minded folks agree are productive and helpful to society – could be in danger.”
He said the programs provided by faith-based institutions and organizations “is across the boards and part of the everyday fabric of life in the community.”
“As long as they’re providing a service the community needs, as in the case of inmate and inmate needs in order to better [an inmate's] return to society, and as long as they are not proselytizing in the process, [most people are] comfortable with that trade off,” East continued. He later added, ‘“I do think in the center, what you have is people are looking not necessarily at what religion the provider is, but whether they’re providing the right kind of service.”
But Shapiro remained steadfast, saying the issue remains, at its core, about taxpayer money being used to support religious education.
“This is one further step towards school vouchers and Holmes v. Bush was about schools and the Opportunity Scholarship program,” he said. “We all are going to wind up paying for religious schools and religious education with which we do not agree.”
Shapiro said it is his and every Floridians right to support or refuse to support religious denominations. Amendment 8, he asserts, violates that right.
“I am small government person,” he said. “I don’t think the government should tell me what denominations I should support.”
What is the Religious Freedom Amendment really about? How does it square with U.S. Constitution? If "sectarian" groups provide services in a "secular" manner, does that violate the Florida constitution? If government provides funding to faith-based organizations in a way that doesn’t favor one over the other, could that be constitutional?
Guests:
Jon East, Policy Director, Step up for Students - described as a scholarship program for low-income students; Former long-time Tampa Bay Times columnist on constitutional and education issues
Rabbi Merrill Shapiro, President of the Board of Directors of Americans United; Shapiro joins us from central Florida