Why So Long?

I saw this story today about Paul Ryan's efforts to craft a budget that balances in ten years.  

Now I really like Paul Ryan.

And I'm a Republican.

But why so long?   Why ten years?   Why are Republicans and Ryan, our brightest light, so timid that the best we can hope for is to craft a budget that will balance in the middle of the next President's second term... and which we know has no chance of passing anyway?  

How can that kind of approach possibly attract new voters to the GOP?

What Republicans need to do is to put on the table a balanced budget for next year.   Period.   That's what we sent them to Congress to do.   It will inevitably have draconian spending cuts if Republicans keep their pledge of no new taxes.  The Democrats will scream bloody murder.   But Republicans in Congress should refuse to budge on the budget unless the Democrats in the Senate and President Obama come forward with their own plan to balance the budget.   If they want higher spending, then they need to propose specific tax increases to pay for them.   Period.   And then let's have that debate.

But let's not pretend that a trillion dollar deficit projected to decrease to a balanced budget over ten years -- which, if it's a straight line would still add $5 trillion to our debt over those ten years -- is a good thing, or accept that it's the best we can hope for.