During Sunday night’s contentious health care debate, Congressman Paul Ryan gave one of the finer speeches of the evening, reminding us of the Founders’ intentions for a limited government and the dangers of subverting that ideal. An excerpt:
America is not just a nationality – it’s not just a mass of land from Hawaii to Maine, from Wisconsin to Florida. America is an idea. It’s the most pro-human idea ever designed by mankind.
Our founders got it right, when they wrote in the Declaration of Independence that our rights come from nature and nature’s God – not from government.
Should we now subscribe to an ideology where government creates rights, is solely responsible for delivering these artificial rights, and then systematically rations these rights?
Do we believe that the goal of government is to promote equal opportunity for all Americans to make the most of their lives – or do we now believe that government’s role is to equalize the results of people’s lives?
The philosophy advanced on the floor by the Majority today is so paternalistic, and so arrogant. It’s condescending. And it tramples upon the principles that have made America so exceptional.
My friends, we are fast approaching a tipping point where more Americans depend on the federal government than on themselves for their livelihoods – a point where we, the American people, trade in our commitment and our concern for our individual liberties in exchange for government benefits and dependencies.
– James Quintero