The Ryan roadshow

摘要

Unusually, America is a country founded on an idea, Paul Ryan told crowds at the Iowa State Fair on August 13th, his first solo appearance as vice-presidential running mate to Mitt Romney. Battling hecklers, the young congressman explained further. Because Americans believe their rights come from nature and God, not government, he said, they want a free society that rewards hard work, not a European-style welfare state. As it happens, Mr Ryan is an unusual vice-presidential candidate because he, too, embodies an idea. Though he holds reliably conservative views on issues from abortion to environmental regulation, his rise to national prominence at the age of just 42 rests on his mastery of one argument: that America faces a debt crisis, caused by a government that taxes and spends too much. Mr Ryan is best known as the author of alternative, radically-smaller, draft federal budgets embraced with fervour by many of his fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives.