I put up my Romney sign the other day, writing, $ to follow. Today I send the dollars.

Romney told NBC that he wants a vice president with “a vision for the country, that adds something to the political discourse about the direction of the country.”

Congressman Paul Ryan has been a favorite here almost since The Patriot’s Trumpet was born. On April 10, 2011, I Wrote, “Now Is Paul Ryan’s Time. Paul Ryan and The Path to Prosperity will be the central force and focus as “We the People” have our National conversation and do our work leading through the 2012 election.” Ryan characterized the “right to happiness” as “The right to rise.” He said, “All Americans have the right to rise.” Read this inspiring selection of Ryan quotes from here:

• America’s debt is a moral challenge.
• The path to Prosperity is not through “solar shingles” and high speed trains, it is through releasing individual freedom.
• The size of the budget is a symptom of deeper causes and it points to different ideas about government.
• We basically need to ask ourselves:
• What should government be doing?
• What sort of people do we want to be?
• What kind of character do we want our children and grandchildren to have?
  • The answer to these questions dictates the size of government. If you believe government should be doing more to eliminate every social problem, you cannot be for limited government. Societies potential problems are unlimited. So a government that would solve problems without limit must necessarily have power without limit to do it.
  • Economic conservatism and social conservatism come from the same moral root. You can’t give up one to defend the other and they must never be separated.
  • . . . Without the American idea, there is no future for freedom.
  • In the long story of civilization, great empires have risen and great empires have declined. We can choose to relegate America to another chapter in the history of declining nations but, why on earth would we make that choice?

“We Can Lift That Burden”

Ryan went on to say:

All that stands between us today and abundance tomorrow is the burden of public debt, the government’s appetite to spend and the bureaucrat’s passion to regulate. We can lift that burden.

We owe it to the country to give them a choice for the future. . . . Our job in the House is to make sure that 2011 goes right so that 2012 goes well. We owe you the choice. Do you want that opportunity society, that limited government with a safety net based upon the founding principles of limited government and economic freedom, or do you want the European cradle to grave social welfare state? . . . that’s the choice in 2012.

We know where is headed and it’s not too late to turn it in the right direction. . . . We are in this moment. . . . where we get to choose. And, if we [Congress] do our jobs right, you’ll have a very clear choice.

What makes me excited —what makes me optimistic? If we just give the country a choice, we’ll make the right one. . . . Winston Churchill said, “Americans can be counted on to do the right thing only after they have exhausted all other possibilities.” That is where we are. This is our time.

Take the measure of Paul Ryan and be inspired for the work ahead as you listen to him at CPAC 2011: