I got a sneak peek at some of Rep. Paul Ryan’s upcoming comments at CPAC this year. As you’d expect, they focus on the budget. And there is a clear attempt to stress why balancing the budget is the morally and fiscally right thing to do — not just something that a “mean” Republican focused on austerity would recommend.
Here are a few excerpts:
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“The crucial question isn’t how we balance the budget. It’s why. The budget is a means to an end. We’re not balancing the budget as an accounting exercise. We’re not just trying to make the numbers add up. We are trying to improve people’s lives.”
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[Senate Democrats] call their budget a balanced approach. But the thing is—they never balance the budget—ever. In fact, they call for another trillion-dollar tax hike on top of even more spending.”
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“A debt crisis would be more than an economic event. It would be a moral failure. You see, by cheapening our currency, government would cheat us of our just rewards. Even now, we’re hurting working families. By living beyond our means, the government is sending a message. It’s saying, “If you plan ahead—if you make sacrifices for your kids—if you save—you’re a sucker.” It’s brazenly stealing from our children. And it has to stop.”
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“We belong to one country. But we also belong to thousands of communities—each of them rich in tradition. And these communities don’t obstruct our personal growh. They encourage it. They are where we live our lives. So the duty of government isn’t to displace these communities, but to support them. It isn’t to blunt their differences or to flatten their character—to mash them together into some dull conformity. It’s to secure our individual rights and to protect that diversity.”
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“Our budget makes room for these communities to grow, so the people in them have room to thrive. But we can’t just talk about these communities. We have to talk with them. We have to engage them—because leaders don’t just speak up. They listen too. And if we listen more closely to the people, we will find that the answers to our problems lie a lot closer to home.”