Recent Scandals Are Big Government in Practice, Paul Ryan Says
WASHINGTON – Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Friday that he and Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney lost in part in the 2012 election because they "had to argue against the promise and rhetoric of President Barack Obama" before some of the policies were implemented, but now Americans can witness what Obama's polices are like "in practice" in his second term.
With references to some of the recent government scandals, such as the Internal Revenue Service's harassment of pro-life groups, Ryan said at the Faith & Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority 2013" conference, "big government is bad enough in theory, look what we see in practice."
A difference between liberalism and conservatism, Ryan argued, is that conservatives believe that individual rights come from God, and pre-date government, while liberals believe those rights come from government. But, if we have government granted rights, he continued, it means that "government as the right to tell you how to exercise those rights." As an example, Ryan spoke about the new regulations that are part of the new healthcare law, officially called the Affordable Care Act but better known as "Obamacare."
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"You don't want to give government that kind of power," he said.
For liberals, he argued, there is the individual and there is government, but they "forget the stuff in between," such as family and civic organizations, that "fight poverty" and "champion marriage." The liberal idea, he continued, is to fill that "middle space" with government. This philosophy argues, "we can't manage complicated affairs, we need smart people in government to do it for us."
But that is not working, Ryan said, because, "bureaucrats bring bias," and "they don't know better."
Ryan told the conservatives in attendance that they must "resell the American idea" of liberty, faith and freedom.
The "saga is not yet over," he said, and "when you get knocked down, you get back up."
