Gordon Forgey

Now that presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has named his running mate, Paul Ryan, the 2012 campaign is off and running.

It promises to be a contentious affair.

The two parties seem to agree on only one thing: the country is in trouble and must be fixed.

Yet, they violently disagree on what that fix is.

The Republicans think they can save the country by cutting spending. As such, many programs are under threat of dramatic cutbacks. That is not all bad. It is not all good either.

The Democrats, on the other hand, want revenue increases to eat away at the deficits and provide help for the economy,...