I’d like to share my thoughts on the lessons that I learned from my recent experiences as both a member of Congress and a candidate for Congress.
With skyrocketing health care costs and the retirement of the baby boomers, our entitlement programs are headed for a painful collapse—a collapse that will bankrupt this nation and leave our children with an inferior standard of living. This reality is acknowledged by nearly all, but there is a dangerous vacuum of ideas on how to solve this crisis.
Tasked to tackle our nation’s most pressing problems, I devoted this past year to a comprehensive reform of health care, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the federal tax code and our budget process. This bold, innovative reform package—“A Roadmap for America’s Future”—would fulfill the mission of health and retirement security, lift the crushing burden of debt we’re handing to our children, and strengthen American jobs and competitiveness in the 21st century. It is real legislation that tackles directly the most fundamentally broken institutions in our federal government, and it does so with conviction and candor.
Pundits and pollsters told me that this would be political suicide. My colleagues in Congress told me that this Roadmap is just what we need, but that they could not publicly support something so bold. Everybody’s afraid to put a big idea out there for fear of being demagogued by the other party. Few are willing to do anything risky in an election year.
The problem with this notion is that it is an election year every other year in the House—so nothing gets done and our leaders kick the can of reform down the road for the next generation to deal with.
As the dust settles from election night, I am reminded of the words of those cautious critics. In a congressional district where the top of the ticket went to the Democratic candidate, I secured well over 60 percent of the vote.
When I held listening sessions around the district to discuss the merits of my proposal, I was not met by hostility but rather with applause and relief that finally somebody was talking about innovative reforms and actual solutions. Newspaper editorial boards around the state recognized the comprehensive and courageous nature of my reforms. They applauded me, even though some disagreed with some of the specifics of the proposal.
I challenge my colleagues to rethink political risk-taking. Clinging to the status quo and shrinking away from our most serious fiscal challenges is a recipe for electoral defeat. When a politician’s sole focus is to play it safe to keep a job, that person deserves to lose it. I hope that my colleagues get the message—our nation’s future depends on it.
Paul Ryan of Janesville is Wisconsin’s First Congressional District representative. Send mail to: Janesville Constituent Services Center, 20 S. Main St., Suite 10, Janesville, WI 53545. His phone number in Washington, D.C., is (202) 225-3031.