Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., gave the kind of speech this morning on “Federalism and America’s Future” that might renew the longing, if not the likelihood, that he run for president in 2012 on a platform of rolling back the bureaucratic state and President Obama’s agenda.
Speaking during a Constitution Day celebration at the Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship, Ryan criticized Congress and President Obama for putting “too much discretionary power in the hands of unaccountable bureaucrats.”
As an example, Ryan discussed the Federal Reserve and poked fun at Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, though he tended to reinforce Perry’s general policy complaints about the Fed:
Ryan continued his remarks by indicting the constitutionality of President Obama’s methods in pursuing his environmental agenda. After reminding the audience that cap-and-trade legislation, for instance, failed in the Senate in 2010, Ryan noted that Obama “decided to let the EPA carry on [implementing such regulations], which raises the question, why does the Constitution establish a law-making body at all?” Ryan also criticized government-backing of the bankrupted Solyndra solar energy company, calling the Energy Department “the world’s worst venture-capital fund.”
Ryan concluded with a general attack on current regulatory practices that perhaps doubled as another commentary on the Republican presidential debate, warning that eventually “our country [could be] defined by a new kind of class warfare, between a class of bureacrats and connected crony capitalists” who use regulations to oppose small businesses and entrepreneurs. Former Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., both recently attacked Perry on the practice of crony capitalism, especially with respect to his decision regarding the mandated HPV vaccination.
Of course, Ryan’s jokes about Perry lose their sting when the representative chooses not to rival him in the presidential field. For the moment, then, the two seem to advocate pro-federalism principles following two separate paths – one that leads through the House of Representatives, while the other’s might end at the White House.
