Mitt Romney announced he has selected Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate Saturday morning in Norfolk, Va. The Free Beacon has assembled the House Budget Chairman's five best speeches, in no particular order:
Ryan on entrepreneurial capitalism vs. cronyism in August 2012
"…At the end of the day, Mr. Speaker, I think there’s a difference in philosophy here. One side likes to think of the idea of everybody sending their money to Washington, then we go to a back room, and we slice up the money and send it out to favored groups, favored constituents, people we want to be as winners versus those who might be losers. We’ve got to get out of the game of Washington picking winners and losers in the tax code, because what we do is stifle that entrepreneur who has an idea…"
Ryan talks inflation at the health care summit in February 2010
"...And we've been talking about how much we agree on different issues, but there really is a difference between us. And it's basically this. We don't think the government should be in control of all of this. We want people to be in control. And that, at the end of the day, is the big difference..."
Ryan introduces Path to Prosperity in February 2011
"...The facts are very, very clear. The United States is heading for a debt crisis. The only solutions will be truly painful for us all. That doesn’t have to be our future. The way we respond to this challenge will ultimately define our generation. We can choose a path to prosperity..."
Ryan challenges President Obama on spending at the House GOP retreat in January 2010
"...The spending bills that you have signed into law, the domestic and discretionary spending has been increased by 84 percent. You now want to freeze spending at this elevated level beginning next year. This means that total spending in your budget would grow at 300ths of 1 percent less than otherwise. I would simply submit that we could do more and start now…So my question is, why not start freezing spending now? And would you support a line-item veto and helping us get a vote on it in the House?"
Ryan speaks on the House floor during Obamacare vote in March 2010
"…America is not just a nationality its not just a mass of land from Hawaii to Maine, from Wisconsin to Florida. America is an idea. Its 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?"