Paul Ryan: Lifting the Debt, Rejecting Decline and Securing America's Leadership

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin delivered the following remarks to the Hamilton Society on June 2, 2011.

Our fiscal policy and our foreign policy are on a collision course; and if we fail to put our budget on a sustainable path, then we are choosing decline as a world power.

If we continue down our current path, then a debt-fueled economic crisis is not a probability. It is a mathematical certainty. Some hear these facts and conclude that the sun is setting on America... that our problems are bigger than we are... that our competitors will soon outrun us... and that the choice we face is over how, not whether, to manage our nation's decline. It's inevitable, they seem to say, so let's just get on with it... Our fiscal problems are real, and the need to address them is urgent. But I'm here to tell you that decline is not a certainty for America. Rather, as Charles Krauthammer put it, "decline is a choice."

A world without U.S. leadership will be a more chaotic place, a place where we have less influence, and a place where our citizens face more dangers and fewer opportunities. Choosing decline would have consequences that I doubt many Americans would be comfortable with. So we must lead. ...a central element of maintaining American leadership is the promotion of our moral principles -- consistently and energetically -- without being unrealistic about what is possible for us to achieve.

A safer world and a more prosperous America go hand-in-hand. Economic growth is the key to avoiding the kind of painful austerity that would limit our ability to generate both hard and soft power. A more prosperous economy enables us to afford a modernized military that is properly sized for the breadth of the challenges we face.

Today, some in this country relish the idea of America's retreat from our role in the world. They say that it's about time for other nations to take over; that we should turn inward; that we should reduce ourselves to membership on a long list of mediocre has-beens... Instead of heeding these calls to surrender, we must renew our commitment to the idea that America is the greatest force for human freedom the world has ever seen; a country whose devotion to free enterprise has lifted more people out of poverty than any economic system ever designed; and a nation whose best days still lie ahead of us, if we make the necessary choices today.

Text: http://budget.house.gov/News/Document...
To learn more: http://www.facebook.com/reppaulryan

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[JenniferPresents]

Let's do it Budget Guy! A new superhero is born. We're ready for you to throw your hat in the Presidential ring, Mr. Ryan. We need somebody ready to get things done instead of someone looking merely for a power win. You will have support.

[randolph229]

Congressman, I will vote for any opponent to Obama, but I WANT to vote for you. Tell us how to help you. For America and Americans!

[JenniferPresents]

Go ahead, any vote besides the current admin is a step in the right direction. We'll still win in what I suspect to be a landslide. I think a lot more people are desperate to dump as much of these fraudulent entitlement benefits, and pork spending, and wasteful bailouts than worried about cutting back on our National Defense. This guy cares more about people than power. That's why I'm voting for him. Just feels like common sense to me.

[mizzoulibertarian]

maybe we should just close down our 800 bases overseas. let other countries defend themselves and build a wealthy society here at home. Boehner a fiscal conservative? lmao

[mizzoulibertarian]

it won't matter if we go to war with iran. listen to this speech. Its john Mcain, Its cheney, its w. Bush its Bill Kristol. Its a neocon speech not a true conservative speech

[mizzoulibertarian]

vote for gary johnson or wright in Ron Paul. don't vote for a war with Iran

[mizzoulibertarian]

this guy is a neocon. not a true conservative. we can give up our bases oversees and stop wasting money on dumb wars such as Iraq and afghanistan. It appears the republicans did not learn from the loss in 2008. Hearing this neocon speech I will be forced to vote for Gary Johnson

[stephentsang2000]

White people are addicted to debt like their addiction to beer.

[DarkWillg21]

Paul Ryan has no understanding of economics...

[hume1234561]

this guy is a joke. england ceded power to america? lol. the suez crisis was the moment america became a superpower.

[poindexterwitkowsky]

~~~>~President Obama, WE THE PEOPLE, ask that you call the Republicans' BLUFF on the debt ceiling issue. We ask that NO changes be made to MEDICARE & SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS. We ask for an END to CORPORATE WELFARE & CORPORATE TAX LOOP HOLES. We ask that you make use of the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT. We ask that you PROSECUTE WALL STREET CRIMINALS & their REPUBLICAN ENABLERS.~~~>.NO MORE CONCESSIONS, NO MORE HALF MEASURES. IT'S TIME TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT AND LET THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY.~~