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The GOP’s '76ers
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| Parent(s) |
Candidate
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| Contributor | Imperator |
| Last Edited | Imperator Aug 25, 2012 07:42am |
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| Category | Perspective |
| Author | Matthew Continetti |
| Media | Weekly News Magazine - Weekly Standard, The |
| News Date | Saturday, August 25, 2012 01:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | ‘America is more than just a place,” Paul Ryan told the Norfolk, Virginia, crowd during his first speech as Mitt Romney’s running mate. “It’s an idea. It’s the only country founded on an idea. Our rights come from nature and God, not government.” The audience roared at this mention of natural rights. Ryan uses similar language in almost every stump speech. He wins applause every time.
Mitt Romney’s selection of Ryan was significant for many reasons, but here is one that hasn’t been much commented on: It gives the Republican ticket a newfound and solid grounding in the language of the Declaration of Independence. When Ryan makes the Republican case, he does not limit his argument to economic efficiency, enhanced productivity, cost cutting, or laissez-faire. He has expanded the scope of debate to include foundational principles of government.
Is the federal government supposed to cater to our every need or desire, or did the Founders have another purpose in mind? Does government grant us social and economic rights in an ever-evolving process, or do we derive those rights from an unchanging human nature that precedes the institution of government? Does government have the responsibility to redistribute property in accordance with theoretical and arbitrary ideas of fairness, or should it rather concentrate on ensuring that property is earned fairly and in accordance with the rule of law?
These are the questions Ryan asks, and they cannot be dismissed. A recurrence to first principles connects Romney and Ryan to the Tea Party movement. It connects them to Ronald Reagan, who spoke often of “our natural, unalienable rights.” It connects them to Calvin Coolidge, who declared that July 4, 1776, “has come to be regarded as one of the greatest days in history” not because the Declaration was “proposed to establish a new nation, but because it was proposed to establish a nation on new principles.” |
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