Rep. Paul Ryan: Go Bold in 2012

[Maggie Thurber]

I participated in a conference call with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) where he previewed the comments he will be making at CPAC 2012.

Throughout the call he emphasized that Republicans/conservatives have a terrific opportunity in 2012 to not only defeat Barack Obama, but to earn a moral mandate for returning the nation to its American Ideals.

"If we give the American people a clear choice, I have faith that they will reaffirm our Founding principles, giving us the moral authority to get America back on track."

He said Pres. Obama told us he wanted to "fundamentally change" the United States. Like so many others, I never understood why we needed to 'change' anything about the greatest, freest and most prosperous nation on earth, but apparently converting us to a European socialist copy was the direction the President intended.

Ryan said we need to "go bold in 2012" and not win simply by default. He said we have an extraordinary opportunity to offer the country a clear vision of the reforms necessary to get us back to the ideals our nation was founded upon. "On nearly every policy front, the President has made matters worse. But I believe the American people deserve better than simply a referendum on President Obama’s failed policies. They deserve a choice of two futures," he stated.

It is his firm belief that if we show Americans the choice they have between continuing down the dangerous debt-ridden path Obama and his fellow Democrats in Congress have placed us on or returning to the path of American greatness - the ideals and principles upon which the nation was founded - Americans will choose what we offer and we will win not only the 2012 election, but the moral authority to implement the agenda they so obviously support.

The 2012 election will be an election of competing ideas, he said. Our rights come from our creator - not government. The nucleus of our society is the individual and the family - not the government. Ryan said it is already clear that Pres. Obama is going to run on a platform of division, especially by class - hoping people will believe that they are somehow stuck in their current class and the only way to better themselves is through government taking from others in order to attain an equal outcome for all.

"I reject class division. I reject preying on envy and fear," Ryan said.

He had one of the best catch phrases I've heard so far this year. He said Obama's record and failed agenda is one of "debt, doubt, and decline." His CPAC speech will make the case for clarifying the choice between the Republican message of growth and prosperity, or more of Obama's debt, doubt and decline.

But, he emphasized, we must make that choice very clear by accentuating the differences between our two positions. "As reformers, it is our task in the year ahead to make clear the reform agenda needed to get us back on track – to get our economy growing, to tackle the rising cost of health care, to strengthen health and retirement security for all Americans, and to lift the crushing burden of debt so that hardworking families can prosper. We need reforms that expand opportunity and upward mobility."

After hearing this preview, I'm even more interested in hearing his speech to the CPAC attendees. I predict his message will resonate not only with them, but with the American people as well.