Paul Ryan Talks Political Courage with the Brody File

04-10-2012
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In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan says President Obama is in the business of “demagoguery” and believes that if he and fellow Wisconsinite Scott Walker fail in their attempts to get budgets and debts under control then, “courage will never be exercised again.”

This interview was conducted last Tuesday near Milwaukee, Wis., but The Brody File is making some clips available now. A full report will air this Thursday on "The 700 Club."

Courtesy: CBN News/The Brody File

David Brody: The political will from these politicians. Do they have the political will to get through these serious debt issues?

Paul Ryan: Look. What we’re experiencing in America, in Wisconsin, are decades of politicians making empty promises to voters. And those empty promises are going to quickly become broken promises if we have a debt crisis. What we believe we owe the country is the truth and solutions to fix these problems. Because if we have a debt crisis, which is just around the corner, then all those programs that people organize their lives around, their retirements around, are going to be broken promises, and we’re going to have severe disruption in peoples’ lives. That’s what happens when you have a debt crisis.

That’s the kind of austerity that is imposed if politicians keep kicking the can down the road and not solving these problems, like what President Obama is doing. So people like myself and Scott Walker, we believe that if there is a problem in front of us, we should solve that problem, and the sooner we fix this problem, this debt problem that we have, the better off everybody is going to be. The more likely we can grow the economy, get jobs, get people back to work. More likely people can have the kinds of benefits that they banked on when they retired.

Those are the things we are trying to secure so we can get back to security, back to a debt-free nation, give our kids a higher living standard which is the American legacy, the American idea. And unfortunately, if we succumb in America to this kind of political attack, then courage will never be exercised again.

If Scott Walker is recalled, if we can’t persevere on these budget reforms, then what other political leader is going to dare take on these difficult issues before they get out of our control? The answer is none. What governor or state legislature is going to have the courage to address the structural problems in their government if this is what happens to them for trying?

So, what we’re saying is we’ve got to get through this idea that these things are political third rails. We’ve got to fix the country’s problems before it gets out of our control so that we can reclaim the American idea. That’s what we’re going to have to do is get through all of the demagoguery and all of the distortions that President Obama and his allies are trying to use to try to divide and distract the country.

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