When I first read this article on Town Hall by Congressman Paul Ryan, I laughed.  Then I re-read it and I cried.  Then I re-read it again and got angry.  It's hard for me to get angry at Paul, because he is probably one of the few dedicated small government Republicans left in Congress.  His problem is that he throws around the term "Republican" as if everyone in the party he belongs to thinks like he does.  They don't, and yet he chooses to associate with them... and everything he wrote is pure bull because of it.  Not because he doesn't believe in these things, but because the rest of his party doesn't.  And the fact that he continues to back them, and serve as their mouthpiece is shameful.

Democrats favor big government. They trust government to make Americans' most important choices for them, from education to health care to scientific research. They believe the economy should follow the dictates of politics, because they don't really trust free markets to produce the "right" kinds of goods in the "right" ways. For Democrats, "fiscal discipline" means balancing the budget at higher levels of spending and taxing, and with an ever-expanding role for government.

Republicans have a fundamentally different view. We believe that individuals, acting freely and responsibly, are the source of our country's moral strength and prosperity. We believe government tends to smother personal initiative, that it hinders more than it helps. We favor limiting government's imposition on individual and economic choices. We believe, as President Reagan said in his first inaugural: "We are a nation that has a government - not the other way around."

Democrats and Republicans today both favor big government.  The only difference between the two is what that government would force you to do.  For all of Ryan's talk about individuals being able to act freely, his Republican party when it was in control did plenty to curtail those very freedoms he espouses.  They passed campaign finance legislation which stopped people from being able to speak freely.  They made online gambling illegal, which stopped people from being able to spend their money as they choose.  A Republican in the White House has made it a priority to arrest and terrorize sick people who use marijuana for relief, even in states where it is legal to do so.  I could go on an on... but frankly it's depressing to list them all out.

For all of Ryan's talk about free choices... the reality is that the Republican party only wants you to make the free choices it thinks are acceptable, just like the Democrats.  The only real difference is that the two parties disagree on what choices are acceptable and which one's aren't.  But don't kid yourself, they both want to be the ones to tell you which choices to make.

The entitlement reforms are especially important. It is widely known that programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, as currently structured, face a fiscal and economic train wreck - and they will fail the very beneficiaries they are intended to serve. Ignoring these facts - as the Democrat budget does - only makes the problem worse.

HA!  And who passed one of the largest new entitlements in recent history... Medicare Part D?  A Republican Congress!  And now you want to say it's an economic train wreck, and blame it on Democrats?  Don't you even dare.  And we haven't even started talking about the earmarks which got passed around like nobody's business.  It was enough to make me sick.

The philosophies of Republicans and Democrats, as spelled out in our respective fiscal plans, could not be more distinct: whether we opt for more government, more taxes, and an ever-growing burden on the Nation's economy; or limited government, more freedom, and a more resilient and robust economy. That is the defining nature of this year's budget debate - and it is the clear choice for our nation's future.

Why is it that Republicans always cry fiscal restraint when they're in the minority, and then suddenly spend money like Paris Hilton when they're in power?  As the old saying goes... fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  I've been fooled too many times.  Talk all you want... but when you were in power, you couldn't follow your own principles.  So what good are you?

Via BBA.