COP: Paul Ryan declares war on Obama’s class-warfare campaign

James Pethokoukis

He’s had enough. More than enough. In a high-voltage speech tomorrow at the Heritage Foundation, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan will tear into President Barack Obama’s recent push to raise taxes on wealthier Americans—including entrepreneurs and small business—to pay for more government spending. It’s what a Ryan aide calls “the politics of division, pitting Americans against each other, preying on the emotions of fear and envy.” Here are few choice bits of what Ryan is apparently going to say:

1. “Instead of working together where we agree, the president has opted for divisive rhetoric and the broken politics of the past. He is going from town to town, impugning the motives of Republicans, setting up straw men and scapegoats, and engaging in intellectually lazy arguments as he tries to build support for punitive tax hikes on job creators.

2. ”The House-passed budget was full of proposals to get rid of corporate welfare and crony capitalism. Why are tax dollars being wasted on bankrupt, politically connected solar energy firms? Why is Washington wasting your money on entrenched agribusiness? Why have we extended an endless supply of taxpayer credit to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, instead of demanding that their government guarantee be wound down and their taxpayer subsidies ended? … Rather than raising taxes and making it more difficult for Americans to become wealthy, let’s lower the amount of government spending the wealthy now receive … The politics of division have always struck me as odd: the eagerness to take more, combined with the refusal to subsidize less.

3. “Instead of appealing to the hope and optimism that were hallmarks of his first campaign, he has launched his second campaign by preying on the emotions of fear, envy, and resentment. This has the potential to be just as damaging as his misguided policies. Sowing social unrest and class resentment makes America weaker, not stronger. Pitting one group against another only distracts us from the true sources of inequity in this country—corporate welfare that enriches the powerful, and empty promises that betray the powerless.

4. “Instead of policies that make it harder for Americans to rise, let’s lower the hurdles to upward mobility. That’s what the American Idea is all about. In the midst of all the joys and sorrows of our everyday lives, I think we sometimes forget why America was considered such an exceptional nation at its Founding, and why it remains so. To me, the results of the Founders’ exceptional vision can be summed up in a single sentence: Throughout human history, the American Idea has done more to help the poor than any other economic system ever designed.

5. “Americans, guided by our ideals, have sacrificed everything to combat tyranny and brutal dictators; we’ve expanded opportunity, opened markets, and inspired others to resist oppression; we’ve exported innovation and imagination; and we’ve welcomed immigrants seeking a fresh start. Here in America—unlike most places on earth—all citizens have the right to rise.”