Ryan: Choosing to Limit Government

In his speech Wednesday at Republican National Convention, Paul Ryan accepted the nomination for vice president with a direct attack on President Obama. But he also fleshed out a vision of a dramatically scaled-back federal government. 

Some excerpts:

In a clean break from the Obama years, and frankly from the years before this president, we will keep federal spending at 20 percent of GDP, or less. That is enough. The choice is whether to put hard limits on economic growth, or hard limits on the size of government, and we choose to limit government. ...

None of us have to settle for the best this administration offers – a dull, adventureless journey from one entitlement to the next, a government-planned life, a country where everything is free but us. ...

When I was waiting tables, washing dishes, or mowing lawns for money, I never thought of myself as stuck in some station in life. I was on my own path, my own journey, an American journey where I could think for myself, decide for myself, define happiness for myself. That’s what we do in this country. That’s the American Dream. That’s freedom, and I’ll take it any day over the supervision and sanctimony of the central planners. ...

[Mitt Romney] turned around the Olympics at a time when a great institution was collapsing under the weight of bad management, overspending, and corruption – sounds familiar, doesn’t it? ...

Sometimes, even presidents need reminding, that our rights come from nature and God, not from government.

Nevertheless, Ryan acknowledged that he has spent his career "mainly in public service."