The American Spectator : Ryan Schools Obama on America

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Ryan Schools Obama on America

By Peter Ferrara on 11.2.11 @ 6:08AM

Saving the American Idea, alas, is the last thing on our president’s closed mind.

At the Heritage Foundation last week, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan demonstrated why he doesn’t need to be running for President to be framing the debate for 2012. He delivered there on October 26 a breathtakingly beautiful speech on Saving the American Idea, which defines the Spirit of 2012.

He began, “The mission of the Heritage Foundation is to promote the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. These are the principles that define the American idea. And this mission has never been timelier, because these principles are very much under threat from policies here in Washington.”

Ryan, a disciple of and former staffer for the late Jack Kemp, then explained, “What makes America exceptional — what gives life to the American Idea — is our dedication to the self-evident truth that we are all created equal, giving us equal rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And that means opportunity.”

Since the early 1700s, America has been the land of opportunity, offering world leading prosperity, stemming from world leading freedom. And millions and millions of the dispossessed, the homeless tempest tossed, and their progeny now totaling hundreds of millions altogether, have voted for that American Dream with their feet, crossing oceans, deserts, rivers, and mountain ranges to get here. As I discuss in my recent book, America’s Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb:

Which leaves the question, why did they come? And why do they still come?…. Well, it’s not for the Food Stamps, or the public housing, or even Social Security and Medicare. America’s world leading prosperity dates all the way back to the early 18th century. The roots of that prosperity can be seen in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God-given right of each man and woman to the pursuit of happiness. [T]hat is why they came. They came because America has always been the land of freedom and prosperity and opportunity. They came because of the American Dream, that in this nation every man and woman enjoys the freedom and opportunity to rise to achieve their dreams, regardless of family background, class, race, or religion.

Ryan frames the question now facing us in 2012: “Have those periods of unprecedented prosperity in America’s past been the product of our Founding principles? Or, as some would argue, have we made it this far only in spite of our outdated values? Are we still an exceptional nation? Should we even seek to be unique? Or should we become more like the rest of the world — more bureaucratic, less hopeful, and less free?”

Or as I write in my book regarding America’s heritage of world leading prosperity:

Is that over now? Is America just another nation now, like Greece, as President Obama has suggested? In fact, just like Greece? Is the American Dream done? Is that what is meant by the “New Normal”? Or is that just a phrase to provide political cover for the realities of a new socialism, where everyone as Churchill explained shares equally in the curses of misery, rather than unequally in the blessings of capitalism?

Ryan then discussed at Heritage how Obama is answering these questions for 2012:

To my great disappointment, it appears that the politics of division are making a big comeback. Many Americans share my disappointment — especially those who were filled with great hope a few years ago, when then Senator Obama announced his candidacy….Do you remember what he said? He said that what’s stopped us from meeting our greatest challenges is, “the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics — the ease with which we are distracted by the petty and the trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.

Imagine if Obama had been true to his political rhetoric from 2008. Suppose he had been true to his promise that his economic program would involve a “net spending cut,” several trillion dollars of wasted unnecessary spending ago. Suppose he had truly been a non-partisan President working with both parties to enact a truly effective economic recovery program, like Reagan, lifting up the poorest of Americans with booming economic prosperity. Suppose like Ryan, Obama had adopted the inclusive, pro-growth, prosperity vision of Jack Kemp.

Contrary to the abusive rhetoric of left-wing-extremist know nothings in media and entertainment, some of them literally clowns, Obama would be so universally beloved that we would be clearing space for him on Mt. Rushmore right now. Instead Obama played us with rhetoric promising prosperity and recovery, when all along he planned to deliver dependency on his political machine instead.

Ryan explained his disappointment with Obama in devastating detail:

[N]early three years into his presidency, look at where we are now:

Petty and trivial? Just last week, the President told a crowd in North Carolina that Republicans are in favor of quote ‘dirtier air, dirtier water, and less people with health insurance.’ Can you think of a pettier way to describe sincere disagreements between the two parties on regulation and health care?

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About the Author

Peter Ferrara is Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy at the Heartland Institute, General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, and Senior Policy Advisor on Entitlements and Budget Policy at the National Tax Limitation Foundation. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George H.W. Bush.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (74) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Ken (Old Texican)| 11.2.11 @ 6:23AM

Amen, Peter

Teaghan| 11.2.11 @ 6:39AM

We have to know that whenever obama says he going to do something, he does the polar opposite. So, to say he's going to clean up the small politics and division in Washington meant that he would make it all the more deeper, wider and nastier. He loves this stuff.

A. C. Santore| 11.2.11 @ 1:12PM

Correct!

David Axelrod has proven what I've been saying for 2 or 3 years.

The proto-dictator's aim is to destroy the U.S. economy.

Now, be assured, Axelrod said it in the Alinsky manner, by accusing the Republicans and conservatives of doing exactly what he is doing.

You accuse the other side of doing it so that when it happens - as you have planned all along and executed it - you blame the opponent.

Precisely the same thing is going on with the Constitutional government and our American culture.

Why this, you ask. So that they can come riding in on their leftist charger and "save us," replacing the "failed" system with one of their own. God help us.

Saying one thing and doing the opposite is also part of the plan.

What a royal hoodwinking was the election of 2008!

Lawrence Boccardi| 11.2.11 @ 7:01AM

I am a fan of Paul Ryan. If both houses of Congress have a majority comprised of Repubs and moderate Democrats, then as suggested, why don't they pass legislation amend the tax code, and dare the disgrace to veto it?

Al Adab| 11.2.11 @ 11:24AM

There are no moderate Democrats, only moderate republicans who act like Democrats. Central planners and government activists will not get us out of this mess.

TrueBlue| 11.2.11 @ 5:53PM

Because overall it's a majority, but there isn't a majority in the Senate itself. His budget bill got votes from both the Republicans and a number of Democrats in the House but was tabled by Reid and the other Libs once it hit the Senate. Also, Obama already said he'd veto the bill if it reached his desk.

StanO| 11.3.11 @ 4:08PM

The Senators (generally both parties) tow the line when it comes to big bills with national impact.

Deborah Claypool| 11.2.11 @ 7:18AM

Oh wow! Sharing this must read with friends and family.

R Martin| 11.2.11 @ 7:24AM

Mr. Ferrara's article, beautifully written and spot-on, contradicts his first sentence. America certainly does need saving, but Mr. Ryan is not best positioned to do that as Chairman of the House Budget Committee. He needs to be among the Republican presidential candidates, and we deputies should be focusing on that as our Paul Revere moment.

irish19| 11.2.11 @ 10:07PM

Not yet. Think Ryan/West or West/Ryan in 2020 after Cain/Bolton.

jaich| 11.3.11 @ 12:08PM

Ageed

kate| 11.6.11 @ 3:30PM

Excellent article. I'll be passing it on via email.
Ryan has a bright future.

Mimi| 11.2.11 @ 7:34AM

This was quite a powerful Wednesday morning article Peter. Someone had to say these things and it took HERITAGE, PAUL RYAN and FERRARA.....Yes, we are called to be deputized, to RESTORE America. We have a year, and much work to do....We must first choose a candidate, the very best one to lead. Encourage people around you to join the Republican Party so they are able to particiate in voting in the primaries....the important first vote. Work in your own home town, locally, and help financially if you can. Stay interested in the election your very future is at stake.

Michael Tomlinson| 11.2.11 @ 7:58AM

He is one of the brightest lights in Congress. His influence is being felt in and outside of that body. Like Jack Kemp his idealism is inspirational.

Sadly, anyone expecting better of Barack Obama was naive or willfully blind. The Democrat party since the 1970’s has been the party of character assassination and bitter partisanship. As for this statement, “Note that you never saw President Reagan attacking his opponents this way.” It is to credit of all post-WII Republican Presidents (possibly excluding Nixon) that they behaved like gentlemen while serving as President and in the years after they left the White House maintained their dignity and honor by not behaving like Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton. Of course, knowing Obama he will outdo the disgraceful Jimmy Carter in his post presidential antics.

Pecos Pete| 11.2.11 @ 8:42AM

MT: You know how to ruin my day. I can't imagine how much I will hate reading about ex-pres Carter and ex-pres King O as they join together in criticizing the USA. They will hold a joint press conference, the MSM will tingle. Come to think of it, it could be worse if ex-pres Clinton joined them.

And, you are correct with your assertion that King O will outdo Carter in his post presidential antics. I'm still wondering where King O will live in his early retirement years?

TrueBlue| 11.2.11 @ 5:55PM

First thing the next President needs to do is remove every Executive Order that Obama has signed, and will sign during his lame duck months, during his entire term.

USAF brat| 11.4.11 @ 7:07AM

To Pecos:

Unless Obama ends up living where he belongs: solitary confinement in a federal penitentiary, it probably won't matter much where he lives. He'll still be a such a protection nightmare for the SS contingent assigned to him that he won't be able to go anywhere but to his own crapper without them. He's been such a disaster for America that he'll be shadowed by the SS for the rest of his miserable life -- and you can bet Michelle will be bitching about it for the rest of her miserable life ← That, right there, is the good part ;~P

Nimax| 12.8.11 @ 6:58AM

King O will not be living in Chicago for sure. He'll find a place with people with lots of money and live with - off - the 1% - and pontificate for the rest of his life. Like he does now.....

USAF brat| 11.4.11 @ 6:40AM

I reckon that if Obama loses the next election, he'll spend the next four years campaigning to get back into the White House. The MSM and the Democrats will most likely oblige him. After all, the Dems elected Nancy Pelosi as House Minority Leader after she lost her Speaker job to Boehner. So, why not run Obama again in 2016?

For those of us who are sick and tired of hearing Obama's nonstop telecrapter BS and think we're going to get a break from it when he loses his job: forget about it. The airwaves will be all Obama, all the time -- just as they are now. The message will be worse though. He'll be in full "community agitator" mode: pumping so much hate-filled energy into OWS type malcontents that their recent street riots will look like little kids breaking each other's toys in a playpen by comparison. We are so seriously screwed regardless of what happens next November 6. God help us.

POST American| 11.2.11 @ 8:31AM

--Tavistock '90's Show' Wholesomeness SAP OP--
-------------------------ALERT!--------------------------

AS the last of our economy is shipped off
to empower history's --MOST-- awesomely
genocidal regime --ACROSS the Pacific ---ALLLL
at American taxpayer expense ---has RYAN
or any of the other 'on show' capstone cardboard,
even uttered the word ---'TREASON'?

"Understand, the Globalists DON'T fear
RED China. They set up MAO. They've
'brought up', empowered and enabled
RED China ---at your expense. It's their
creation. The private corporate and banking
EUGENICS borg UN has given more
awards to RED China than any other nation
on earth. They're to be the 'Model for the World'
---and, far more chilling, very soon,
'World Enforcer' ---after America collapses."
-ALAN WATT
(dead on coverage online)

--AGAIN, about that word 'TREASON'.

Rmm| 11.2.11 @ 8:32AM

By now, it goes without saying, that Obama never did intend to follow through with his phony campaign rhetoric and outright lies. This so and so goes against the grain of everything that is considered " Presidential ". A very small and petty man is occupying an office that calls for large and bold leadership. Nothing else will do.

Michael Tomlinson| 11.2.11 @ 8:44AM

Pecos:
I'm hoping Obama emigrates to North Korea where he'll feel more at home.

Louis Jenkins| 11.2.11 @ 8:56AM

Mr. Ferrara, you certainly have an inspirational way of putting the word out. However, the Obamatrons have this nation in a death grip, and it will take Hercules to remove it. One year from now we will go to the polls, and I truly desire that the national decision will be for the better. This nation has stood on the brink for three years. Will we take the step into oblivion, or back away to a more sound path?

DTOM| 11.2.11 @ 9:06AM

Louis,

I don't know if you got the opportunity to enjoy the Reagan turnaround. It was exhilarating. If we as a nation do not screw up next November, I think it will be even more so this time, if we put a true conservative into the White House and re-take the Senate. I have real hope and real fear...one or the other will prevail.

Redstateboy| 11.2.11 @ 12:32PM

Hey Louis... the lame-stream media is doing it's best to keep Hussein and the Slave Party in power but if you read carefully - here and there... Hussein is in trouble.. his base isn't excited (living on welfare and food stamps will do that to ya) and even his White Liber-uls I here tell.. some actually Work in the private sector!! and they're losing their jobs too!

VBMax| 11.2.11 @ 9:03AM

With Obama, you have the lethal combination of a seriously flawed individual and a destructive ideology. Don't make the mistake of thinking that he will ever change because in his mind anything he does is right. This type of person is not capable of reform. He'd send us back to the Dark Ages if he had the chance.

C.K. Amos| 11.2.11 @ 10:37PM

I think that Obama and his Democrat/progressive/liberal/leftist Party and their propagandists in the once-mainstream media have taken steps to send us back to said Dark Ages.

How so? Remember his ongoing war against coal, oil and natural gas?

Agree that Obama is beyond reform. And I suspect when he's defeated next November, we may experience how adolescent he truly is.

Who knows: Maybe we'll have to use force to get him to vacate the White House?

I put nothing past the mendacious megalomaniacal Marxist from the sewer called the Chicago Democrat Machine.

Redstateboy| 11.2.11 @ 9:06AM

woven through-out Peter's writing is the predication by Hussein and his Slave Party that Americans are stupid! How detestable for the President of the United States. His arrogance, condescension and divisional rhetoric demonstrate what a small man he is mirroring the same of his political philosophy and that of his mindless followers.. eh Brooks?

Doctor Right| 11.2.11 @ 10:03AM

Although I am optimistic about this nation's future, can it truly be said that at least 50% of this nation's electorate AREN'T stupid???

Sorry, but only someone who is

a) Stupid
b) Willfully ignorant, or
c) Fully aware but cynically stands to feed at the Dem's trough...

...Could have supported Obama's non-stop line of baloney in 2008.

As Conservatives, we want to believe that left to their own devices, MOST people are smart enough to rise above their own circumstances.

However, after 70+ years of controlling the language and the education system, the sad fact is that much of the electorate IS stupid.

And this stupidity is NOT confined to the lower rungs of the socio-economic scale. In fact, much of it comes from the middle class, and even higher. Anyone who doubts this need only listen to audio of the "Occupy Wall Street" malcontents to confirm it. The mere fact that some of these total ignoramuses are college students is pathetic.

The Dem's exploit the stupidity of the average person to their advantage. Our side merely sits on the sidelines, shocked by their willingness to spin such whoppers, and the public's voracious appetite to swallow them.

Al Adab| 11.2.11 @ 11:31AM

Willfully ignorant in all liklihood. After all this President campaigned to "fundamentally transform America" so anyone who missed that just wasn't paying attention.

Nancy in NC| 11.2.11 @ 12:08PM

Just caught a tidbit of Hannity last night with a live audience. When asked how many had voted for Obama, about half raised their hands. When asked how many would vote for him again, almost the same number raised their hands. Many (most?) Americans have a hard time admitting they made a mistake. That was a scary, eye-opening moment that I hope is not a precursor of things to come.

Redstateboy| 11.2.11 @ 12:36PM

I think you nailed it Nancy.. admitting they voted for the creten in the first place.. could it be human nature they'd feel compelled to raise their hand again to affirm that they're not stupid and that they made a mistake?

Drunken Sailor| 11.2.11 @ 2:12PM

Well of course they did. They are not going to admit on TV (where their friends/family might see them) that they are not going to vote for Obama again. But inside a voting booth is a private matter and I would bet a month's salary that many of them will vote Republican but say they voted Democrat to save face.

Al Adab| 11.2.11 @ 2:36PM

DS:
Many will support Obama due to his "historic" Presidency. The fact that "historic" is used as a racist comment escapes them. Of course how ironic would it be were Cain to oppose him?

Redstateboy| 11.2.11 @ 2:50PM

Al..? In my opinion the Slave Party is petrified of Cain. A Black..?! A Conservative Black?!!! Dares! Boldly to step off the Democrat Plantation?!!? He Must be Destroyed!!! or who knows?! My God! (if they believed in God) what if more Blacks begin seeing the Democrat (Slave Party) for what it truly is.. The Slave Party.

Al Adab| 11.2.11 @ 3:23PM

By George I think you've got it. Nice one Red.

Consertive View| 11.4.11 @ 9:57AM

Red, I fear it is not only the "Slave Party" that is petrified of Cain, it is the Republican Party elite as well. He is a man that owes no favors. He has not come up through the ranks, he is truly the ultimate outsider. That makes Herman Cain the untimate lose cannon. There is nothing the Republican elite can do to pull his strings, to call in a favor or two. The last thing on earth, even behind a re-election of Obama, that the Republican elite, the Republican top movers and shakers want to see is a President with a Republican lable that they can not control. They, the elite, like all others crave power, and a Cain election might well deminish their own.

I hope Herman is wearing a double thick kevlar jacket because the Democratic verbal gun in front will be complimented by the Republican knife in the back. And we are seeing it already. God save Herman Cain and our Republic from our own politicians.

idalily| 11.2.11 @ 4:00PM

I agree with Sailor. It's one thing to be on TV, with your pro-Obama family watching. It's a whole other thing when you are alone in the voting booth. I'm less worried about the Dem voters who won't change their minds about Obama than I am the fractured voters of the GOP who might stay home if "their" candidate doesn't get the nomination.

Tina B| 11.3.11 @ 7:36AM

Wow that is some scary data, Nancy. It is very true, though, that even after being shown their error, people will still not see it.

It reminds me of the true crime stories I watch in which the wrong person was convicted of murder. Sadly, decades later, even after the DNA doesn't match and three lying witnesses have recanted, while some had been intimidated by the police because they themselves were lawbreakers, and new witnesses have come out of the woodwork to share more true information exonerating the convicted innocent man.

Most every time, faced with their obvious mistake, the prosecutor and the police will reaffirm they got the right man the first time. Even after a judge grants a retrial and confirms the man's innocence.

He may have the wrong DNA, he may have been in another city with a room full of people, he may have just had his life and future realigned and ruined by a false scenario and a lame jury's decision, but the DA and the cops are sure they did not make a mistake. They deny any tunnel vision and proclaim their own innocence in the travesty.

Just like the MSM and the Obama sheeple. I keep telling myself, though, it will all come out in the wash. There is One who sees and knows all and He will bring it to His desired end. And new beginning. Maranatha, Lord Jesus.

C.K. Amos| 11.2.11 @ 10:40PM

The majority of the American electorate gave Obama sufficient evidence in 2008 for him to conclude that Americans are stupid.

That he has any supporters now, save for the hard-core anarchists, union thugs and Marxists -- and those to whom he intends to redistribute everyone's income -- is beyond me.

But still evidence that some Americans really are that stupid.

Thing is: Ignorance can be cured; stupidity cannot.

USAF brat| 11.4.11 @ 7:36AM

Ever notice this?:
→ All ignoramuses are Democrats.
→ All Democrats are ignorant.
→ Some Democrats are idiots.
→ All idiots are Democrats.
The last one is the part that bugs me. Why can't we have our share of idiots?

Indiana Alex| 11.2.11 @ 9:33AM

The President, when he was a Senator, accused the former President of "misleading" the American people.

This same man went around the entire country and repeated, over and over, "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, if you like your insurance plane, you can keep your insurance plan".

Does anyone dare to suggest that he didn't know this statement was entirlely false?

In this one statement alone, repeated many, many times, we have a stark example of either a pathological, Machiavellian liar, or someone who is completely ignorant of the impacts of policy.

I'm not sure which one of these possibilities, Obama supporters will own, but personally I'm inclined to favor the latter.

Ted| 11.2.11 @ 9:34AM

"Ryan here is actually counterproductively polite. In 2007, before Obama was even elected President, after nearly 40 years of Reagan Republican tax policy, the top 1 percent of income earners paid more in federal income taxes than the bottom 95 percent of income earners combined."

The 40 year reference must be a typo. Reagan was elected in November 1980. If my math serves, that would be 27 years to 2007.....

Tuco| 11.2.11 @ 11:24AM

He was probably going all the way back to '67, when he was Governor of CA.

Or it was a typo.

:-)

Typical White Person | 11.2.11 @ 9:41AM

Long bemoaned as the party of mean, angry white men, we are, in fact, too polite. I like Paul Ryan, he was brilliant at the health care summit (unlike Helen Thomas look-alike Louise Slaughter), but, gosh darn it, why doesn't he fight back when he's accused of shoving grandma off the cliff? Particularly when it was Dr. Obama who said maybe she'd be better off taking a pill??!!! Okay, maybe I am a little angry ;)

canuckistani| 11.2.11 @ 10:21AM

Because he can't defend the grandma on the cliff shot. There is no way that repealing Obamacare now or in the future will lower costs to businesses and individuals. Why would an insurance company, or a cabal of them, ever lower rates when the pool of subscribers is structurally stacked by ageing boomers for the next 20 years? They can't and they won't. This GOP has gotten themselves so far into the corner, that they viscerally know that any "free market" strategy means increasing costs and lessened outcomes. The data is undeniable.

There is also no way the 10th Amendment wing will permit the G to override interstate barriers to shared coverage when the labyrinthine Medicare and Medicaid programs - gerrymandered by GOP governors for years - will be under intense scrutiny if these barriers are lessened or removed. Ryan et al have no interest in this - thus no plausible solutions.

The criticism of the New Deal was founded on the heavy emphasis on rights over responsibilities. I agree. Now, where is the Ryan plan that shifts the HC emphasis back to responsibility?

DC| 11.2.11 @ 10:47AM

Canuck-you are, I suppose, uniquely qualified to tell businesses (especially the non-fascist ones that don't have the connections to "partner" with big government, or the fat to ride out the socialist storm) that their costs won't decrease if Obamacare is repealed. Please, explain these qualifications and your expertise, because your assertion contrasts with everything I have read and heard from business owners, who will cut back or drop health coverage for their employees once the teeth of Obamacare begin to bite in 2013-2014, or they'll just go out of business entirely. Just do a quick search of letters to the editor of the WSJ over the past 6 months or so, you'll find multiple examples from people actually trying to make a living and employ others, under the current and expected future regime of socialist rationing. It's pretty simple, really: money not spent on compliance with edicts from Chief Infanticide Officer Sebelius can be spent on growing the business. And you can't grow without employees. And you can't attract employees unless you offer some benefits. And if you can't afford to offer the benefits, because Obamacare makes them prohibitively expensive, you stagnate or die as a business. This ought to be simple enough even for a Canadian to understand.

canuckistani| 11.2.11 @ 2:51PM

As an American who has lived and worked in Canada, it is far too easy to understand the disconnect that the US has made between real growth and business costs. Seeing other systems away from the leviathan that is the US Health Insurance system, there are indeed other ways to skin the cat. This is not a debate about care, but about how it gets paid for.

Businesses have shuttered and MOVED to Canada for the simple reason that the costs of doing business there are lower than nearly all of the lower 48. Why? Healthcare is removed from the equation. Education and infrastructure are the other mitigators.

At 17% of GDP, we are the laughing stock of the world in how we pay for health. Our people are sicker, we die earlier and the general level of care is declining at a faster rate than the OECD on almost all measures. Randians on here may say "who cares?", but America is a team playing in a nasty competitive global game and we are losing ground because people are stuck in Oz.

I am in the health supply business, and my business is booming for homecare and products now left uncovered - but necessary - to the recovery of patients trying to get back on their feet and resume work. These aren't Medicaid patients or seniors, but the squeezed majority giving their money to me instead of the greater economy.
Sad but true.

The bottom line is our priorities are bass-ackwards, and people's quality of life continues to decline at increasing costs for no reason but a failure to recognize we have it wrong in this country.

A fact startled me today: more people die from prescription pain-killers each year than heroin and cocaine combined. 'nuff said. They also expect the sales of antidepressants to hit $20B annually within the decade.

Clint| 11.2.11 @ 4:06PM

" In countries weighted heavily toward government
control, people are most likely to
face waiting lists, rationing, restrictions on
physician choice, and other obstacles to care.
• Countries with more effective national
health care systems are successful to the
degree that they incorporate market mechanisms
such as competition, cost sharing,
market prices, and consumer choice, and
eschew centralized government control."

irish19| 11.2.11 @ 10:13PM

I believe you, but you gotta start sourcing these quotes.

Al Adab| 11.2.11 @ 11:29AM

Typical of how the priorities are skewed. Government does not exist to provide peoples needs or to gurantee their economic well being. All efforts toward those ends are wrong-headed and doomed to failure. Federal Government in the United States exists solely to fulfil its enumerated duties and to protect the Liberty and rights of the citizens.

Nancy in NC| 11.2.11 @ 12:11PM

If we only could convince the American people of those facts. OWC (although a microcosim) seems to admit that we have filed. Too many believe the role of government is to fulfill their every demand. We are screwed if 2012 doesn't change the direction of this kind of thinking.

Al Adab| 11.2.11 @ 1:00PM

Nancy:
Just wait till next summer when the OWS folks show up in Charlotte at the DEM convention and try to "protest" (Disrupt, riot) in the streets. Hopefully NC will deliver its electoral votes to the GOP this time.

idalily| 11.2.11 @ 4:04PM

The disheartening part could very well be after the GOP gets in. What if we gain the POTUS, the House, and the Senate, and nothing changes? That's what keeps me up at night. Karl Rove, please move to Canada.

Al Adab| 11.2.11 @ 5:33PM

Ida:
It will take at least three years even after a GOP sweep, to rebuild from the havoc this administration has wrought. The riots will certainly commence upon a GOP victory as the community organizations (all funded by govt.) take to the streets to enforce their demands. Whether or not the nation can survice in either case of a GOP victory or the re-election of the current administration is a matter for much concern.

idalily| 11.2.11 @ 7:23PM

Agreed.

Truth to Power| 11.2.11 @ 11:57AM

You are a member of the Walking Dead. You are living in the past. Your future is Greece. Thanks but no thanks. The ponzi schemes are ending and all you can think of are new ponzi schemes. Good luck with that.

Take A Pill| 11.3.11 @ 6:12AM

That's cute, but please explain how its any of the government's business whether I want to "take a pill" or get a pacemaker put in.

Podbaydoors| 11.2.11 @ 10:36AM

When the Colonial powers moved into a conquered country, there was often a deferred prosperity borne of the infusion of the technical and economic knowledge that accompanied the occupation. For the last few years, I have felt as if I have been an alien in the land of my birth. The inverted anti-colonialism as practiced by the haters of free enterprise has been with one intent; to drain the capital and more importantly the remaining spirit from the occupied land. The strange perverse occupation of America by the Marxist academics is unraveling much more rapidly than the promised forty year ascendancy. Let us hope that we do not suffer more of the Fabian socialist Bushies and their ilk.
We really do need to shed the light on these vampires and their willing dupes. They may scuttle away like cockroaches and silverfish, but when they are known by their deeds and the creed that drives them they will be less able to promulgate the filth they carry.

russel| 11.2.11 @ 11:01AM

It's said our future lies with our children . Rush did a great mono on the nations college's and what they have morphed into . One product is the socialized media , and hence , a braindead voting bloc . As he said , they can make or break a politician , and tho they didn't make Herman Cain , they're certainly giving him their best shot . Above poster calls them " Marxists academics " , which pretty well covers their ilk . Wishful thinking , but clean out the media and we're back in business .

Nancy in NC| 11.2.11 @ 12:12PM

I hope everyone that regularly reads and writes here will take every opportunity to talk to young people about liberty and what it really is. We must light the fire of freedom in the bellies of our children; we can't depend on anyone else to do it.

Redstateboy| 11.2.11 @ 12:40PM

in just 1 State - ONE! - My State - Tennessee.. HusseinCare will add an additional 142 million dollars to our State budget for.. wait for it... 7 straight years!! and We get off light!! States like: the People's Republics of CA., NY and MI. will be in the Billions! Now you'll never ever hear a Liberal mention this teeny-weeny little fact.

Who Knows?| 11.2.11 @ 12:46PM

The title of this takedown of Obama says it all---

Ryan “SCHOOLS” Obama.

What it really means is that Ryan, and any and all wise and alert conservatives are, THEMSELVES, taking advantage of the OPPORTUNITY of the dire straits brother BHO has created.

That is, it’s a fact that around half of America NEEDS remedial “education” when it comes to politics! At least half.

Freedom works. Truth-telling works. Honesty works.

Think of the schooling going on in the noosphere as the free market version of the reeducation camps that FORCEFULLY took place in China, after the Cultural Revolution of the 60’s. Only, instead of coercion, people like Paul Ryan are using the art of persuasion, marshalling their own FREEDOM, by HONESTLY telling the TRUTH.

Maybe there are still enough open minded Americans, at the margin, available to an awakening, after being mugged by the Obama, et al, reality for long enough, so that freedom loving Americans will send BHO and his enablers out of power.

Schools in session!

BIG TIME!

hyluard| 11.2.11 @ 1:54PM

Rep. Ryan is beginning to remind me of the kid in the 5th grade that had the golden opportunity to face down the schoolyard bully, but chose retreat rather then confrontation, and now wants the whole class to listen attentively to his tales of what I (we) could-of, would-of, might-of done for the sake of the playground. He would be better off taking a "time-out" and internalizing the simple fact that true American patriots at Valley Forge often didn't have fires to warm themselves let alone fires "in their bellies" to do the right thing. Mr. Ryan get off the stage and go back to checking the CBO's spreadsheets your time is past

CalMark| 11.2.11 @ 9:49PM

Ryan talks a good game.

However, he's just another apparatchik. Kind of like a sane Ron Paul.

Sorry, folks. He's voted with the Establishment every time it counted. He stalwartly supports Boehner's "Dime Store Democrat" policies. He never speaks "out of turn," meaning his fulminations are reserved for speaches like this one.

As for his roadmap plan, well. How is it that spending can increase by almost $2 trillion in 3 years, and it takes Ryan (a super-genius, according to his cult) 10 years to bring it under control?

Sorry. Not drinking the Kool Aid. This guy is a near-RINO who talks a good game and gets good press.

POST American| 11.2.11 @ 11:18PM

------------------BOTTOM LINE------------------------

"I find the Republican debates
so rediculous as to be unwatchable."
-JESSE VENTURA

In this, the 11th hour of the Globalist-RED
China WORLD TREASON OP ----we find
ourselves completely agreeing.

"RON PAUL is the ONLY one, of all
the candidates up there, who makes ANY
sense at all. He's the ONLY one daring
to mention the (ILLEGAL) 'FED'."

Dan Mathewson| 11.3.11 @ 3:23PM

As any school boy would tell Jesse "The Body" Ventura took one too many chair shots to the head.

Lyneuss Fields | 11.3.11 @ 10:21AM

This supply-side argument has been debunked and dead in the water for almost three decades. When Arthur Laffer argued his theory in my macroeconomics 500 class at Utah State University (not a liberal school), he was laughed out of class. Trickledown economics (tax cuts for the wealthy) was as much a joke then as it should be for clear thinking Americans now. http://lyneussfields.blogspot......ative.html

CalMark| 11.3.11 @ 5:08PM

Brilliant! Linking to your own website to back up your fact-free claims!

You sir, are a genius!

VonMisesJr| 11.3.11 @ 10:57AM

Obama is an"Enlightenment" elitest. Tocqueville expained in "On Democracy, Revoluton and Society" that once the French Serfs had witnessed the "crack in the door of freedom, that they were sure to kick it open."
Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche and Marx philosphy was an attempt to undermine the Industrial Revolution, and re-establish the class structure of serfdom. Of course, they would be our Nobles and Aristocracy; and we would be their serfs.
Obama envisions himself as our "Superman" and we are the "Noble Savages," or as Lippmann referred to us later as the "Bewildered Herd."
Well the Noble Savages and Bewildered Herd have finally figured out that Obama and his Progressive elitist friends are full of crap. Liberty and Free Markets is what made America exceptional. Castro and Chavez have defeated the Industrial Revolution in Cuba and Venezuela. And now only the most ignorant believe their garbage like Lyneuss (and Lucy).

Bobi Becker| 11.4.11 @ 1:33PM

Mr Ryan's speech is totally right on. Unfortunately I do not know the man personally however from what he is stating and his photo are all glowing with a huge positive aura that all of us need right now. It is comforting to know we still have someone in the political field who shares what we all know to be fact and truth. Bless you Paul Ryan, and if ever you were to run for the presidency, I would be your first positive vote..

Timely Renewed | 11.6.11 @ 1:43AM

Unfortunately, Obama's philosophy has American antecedents going back to Woodrow Wilson, who also argued against our constitutional framework in favor of control of society and the economy by a bureaucratic and technocratic elite. Unfortunately, since the New Deal this constitutional framework has been seriously eroded by all branches of the federal government, abetted by Supreme Court decisions which have torn to shreds the constitutional barriers against overweening government. The only sure way to permanently stop this anti-democratic leftism is to restore the original constitutional limits on the federal government. Given how entrenched those Supreme Court precedents are as well as the power of the interests vested in the modern federal leviathan, this can only be accomplished by constitutional amendments restating and restoring the original constitutional framework. See http://www.timelyrenewed.com.

Kendall| 12.7.11 @ 9:32PM

FAX to Barack Obama:
Tel.: 202-456-2461
From: Kendall
Date: Dec. 7, 2011
Re: Your speech in Kansas

I don’t what country you represent. Perhaps it’s France, or Greece, or Sweden, but it’s definitely not the United States of America. In this country, we value the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. These are the principles that define the American idea. These are the principles that made this country into the greatest nation in the history of the world.

Whether you were born in Hawaii or Kenya, you were either physically or spiritually disconnected from the American experience. The fact that your Marxist mother came from Kansas is indeed a slender thread upon which to hang an American identity when you share few of its core values. This country was founded and formed by individual initiative, by personal liberty, and free markets. The values you espouse, and the class warfare you foment, is alien to our way of life. If you want class warfare and redistribution of wealth, go to Europe. Perhaps they might appreciate you there (though I doubt it—Nicholas Sarkozy certainly doesn’t). You can spew this divisive language all you want, but it will not earn you any points among real Americans. Indeed, most of those who respond positively to your divisive rhetoric are merely those whom your party has bought off with taxpayer dollars, or who defecate in public parks cross America. Without our taxpayer dollars, you and your bankrupt Democrat Party would be up a creek without a proverbial paddle.

Being a tortured narcissist, you are fond of comparing yourself to great personalities in American history, in this instance, Teddy Roosevelt.
Teddy Roosevelt would have eaten your lunch. Your hubris prevents you from seeing how foolish you appear to others. Your pompous speaking style grates on anyone with intelligence, your words sound hollow to anyone with a brain. Your class warfare message has become particularly tiring. It seems to be the only arrow in your intellectual quiver, a Karl Marx arrow fired once too often.

In short, we have tired of you, your incompetence, your arrogance, your pomposity, your inability to focus on the real problems facing America, your lies, and your far-left ideology. Moreover, we are sick of your waste of our hard-earned taxpayer dollars on blindingly foolish “stimulus” programs whose provenance is the failed economic theories of John Maynard Keyes, via the faux economist, Paul Krugman.

By this time next year, you will be on the way to being just a sad footnote in American history, a president whose only claim to fame was that he displaced Jimmy Carter as the worst president of the 20th century.

Have a nice day!

Kendall| 12.7.11 @ 11:37PM

FAX to Barack Obama:
Tel.: 202-456-2461
From: Kendall
Date: Dec. 7, 2011
Re: Your speech in Texas, uh, Kansas

I don’t know what country you represent. Perhaps it’s France, or Greece, or Sweden, but it’s definitely not the United States of America. In this country, we value the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. These are the principles that define the American idea. These are the principles that made this country into the greatest nation in the history of the world.

Have a nice day!

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