As Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels inched closer to a decision on whether to seek the presidency in 2012, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., announced this week that he would not run for the U.S. Senate. Their collective decisions could end up having a momentous impact on the nation’s future. By choosing to stay at his post as House Budget Committee chairman rather than attempt to become a junior senator, Ryan put his interest in solving the nation’s long-term debt crisis ahead of higher political ambition. As a senator, he would have been in a stronger position to run for president in 2016.

Ryan is following the lead of the man he has called his “political mentor,” Jack Kemp. As a congressman in 1977, Kemp introduced a bold tax-rate cut proposal with Sen. William Roth, R-Del. It was attacked as radical at the time, and critics predicted it would trigger hyperinflation.