Paul Ryan Hits The Mark at CPAC 2011 - Our Rights Come From Nature And God, Not Our Government

Congressman Paul Ryan hit the mark when he took the podium at CPAC.  Ryan declared that the nation is at "halftime." "The first half of this fight was one where we saw the left unpluged. We saw what they want to do. The people spoke up - we have one of those great founding principles in this country that we have government by consent of the governed, and, you know what? The governed did not consent and there they went out of the mahority and we have a conservative majority in the House of Representatives now."

Ryan then went on to describe the policy battles that the 2011 Congress is facing - ranging from healtcare, economics, budgets and deficits.  He warned that we cannot lose sight of the big picture in these fights.  Quoting President Lincoln, Ryan said "Our rights were given by nature, and nature's God."  Ryan characterized last year's midterm elections as reaction from the country to restore the  Constitution to our founding principles.

Ryan said that there is no constitutional mandate to "over-subsidize some industries and over-regulate others and mandate that all you buy government defined health insurance...we are engaged in the battle of the American Idea...what is that? 'Our rights come from nature and God and not from government.'"  Ryan went on to discuss how the left beleives that the government gets to give us our rights which leads to a systematic replacement of the 'rule of law' with the 'rule of man.'

"Whether it's our monetary policy, our regulatory policy, our healtcare policy or our fiscal policy, it is 'Washington knows best, life is too complex, we'll get the details worked out for you."  He said that what he heard at this year's state of the union was more of the same. Although the president's words were "Reaganesque," as Ryan characterized them, he said they were a "double-down in the same direction." 

Ryan said that what we need is for genius and innovation to take root. "In individual pursuit. In volunatary exchange. Not in government bureaucracy and coercive dictates. There is no government wizard who knows everything about our collective needs and our collective talents...the people as a whole understand society as a whole...no matter how complicated it gets." Ryan called on the need for free markets stating that there is no substitution for them.

Congressman Ryan concluded his speech by declaring that the direction of our nation is clear, and that if you give the country the choice, we will make the right one. "That is where we are, this is our time. The second half is ours. 2012 is our - and this the time where America takes its country back.