The Amnesty Mob vs. America | Michelle Malkin
Government's War | John Stossel
Unasked and Unanswered Questions | Walter E. Williams
An Update on CBS' Sharyl Attkisson's Computers Being Hacked | Katie Pavlich
Claim: NSA Program Stopped 50 Terror Attacks Since 9/11 | Katie Pavlich
Obama Again Proves His Loyal Support for Abortion and Infanticide | Katie Pavlich
Poll: 70 Percent Believe IRS Targeting Started in Washington D.C. | Katie Pavlich
State Department Whistleblower Now Facing Retaliation and Intimidation | Katie Pavlich
The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza rightly called Mitt Romney's bold selection of Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) as his running mate, "the most daring decision of his political career."
Until this weekend, most observers expected Romney to proceed cautiously by selecting a vice-presidential nominee who would neither shake up the race nor introduce new risk into the campaign.
Mitt Romney, we hardly knew ya'.
This is the most consequential presidential election in a generation. It deserves a campaign on big ideas and contrasting visions, not petty personal attacks, small ball and obfuscation.
To date, the Obama-Biden campaign has said embarrassingly little about what a second term would entail. Republicans expect that it would include an effort to legalize millions of undocumented workers, fully implement Obamacare, raise taxes, expand government and push climate change legislation. But President Obama hasn't had the courage to say it. And so if, in a war of attrition, Obama ekes out a narrow victory in November, it will be hollow, as no mandate for these legislative goals will be granted.
Likewise, until now Romney's argument that Obama deserves firing was not enough to provide a legislative mandate, even if he were to win.
But now, with the addition of Ryan to the ticket, Romney has a golden opportunity to define his platform by offering a bold, honest, direct set of solutions to the voters. And he now has exactly the right partner to do it.
Romney and Ryan should frame the 2012 election in terms of growth vs. dependence.
The last three and a half years have witnessed greater American dependence on government than at any time since the Great Depression: expanded welfare access, record delivery of food stamps, seemingly unending federal unemployment insurance, and a massive new entitlement with Obamacare. And private industry now massively relies on government: bank bailouts, auto bailouts, wasted investments in "alternative energy," nationalization of the student loan industry and the government takeover of one-sixth of the economy with healthcare. Where does it end?
Republicans should stress that America was not made great because Americans were dependent on government. The greatness of America has always been human initiative, entrepreneurial spirit and inventiveness. The American Dream is not food stamps, welfare and unemployment insurance.
This theme ties in directly with the "You Didn't Build That" controversy, a stunning moment of honesty from President Obama in which he requires that every private-sector achievement is directly attributable to the public sector.
