For the first time in history a representative of our state is the Speaker of the House. Of course, that is Paul Ryan: the vice presidential nominee in 2012 and, before he was elected speaker, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
At 45 years young, there is no one better for the position of Speaker of the House than Ryan.
Whether it’s his commitment to his family, the fact he decided to run for speaker in a deer stand (so Wisconsin), the fact he plans to still sleep in his Capitol office in order to be as efficient he can or because he has an awesome workout routine — it’s easy to love Ryan.
Why else is he the perfect speaker? Well, he didn’t want to do this for the “next position.” He didn’t want to do this for any type of personal gain. In fact, he didn’t even want the job at all. But he was called on by his colleagues as well as many other conservatives across the country to unite the Republican Party in Washington.
Those around him saw he was the right leader, the one that can unite moderates, freedom caucus members and everyone in between to get the job done.
Ryan has been a model public servant for more than a decade and a half now, and it’s about time conservatives across the country see in him what many of us here in Wisconsin have known for so long.
He’s ready for change. In his first speech as the youngest Speaker of the House in more than a century, Ryan said, “This begins a new day in the House of Representatives … Tomorrow we are turning the page. We are not going to have a House that looks like it looked the last few years. We are going to move forward. We are going to unify. Our party has lost its vision and we are going to replace it with a vision.”
For too long, so many Republicans in the House have run on promises they haven’t kept, votes they haven’t had and laws they haven’t passed. Ryan is ready to keep those promises.
While the newly elected speaker is excited to get to work and make changes we haven’t seen in the House in a long time, he is also ready to be realistic with the American people and not make false promises he can’t keep.
On things like immigration reform, Ryan has already said he will not tackle the issue until after President Barack Obama has left office, since it’s clear any law passed by Congress will not be signed into law by the president.
He’s been leading on certain issues people may not be all too familiar with. Issues that people may think aren’t “Republican.”
Ryan has been working with a group called Opportunity Lives to raise awareness of how people around this country are pulling themselves out of poverty.
He has been teaming up with people like Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, and NFL Superstar Deion Sanders to showcase how individuals, not the government, are the reason people can escape poverty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv0TAuWyDi4
This is exactly the kind of leadership the Republican Party and the country needs at a time when Washington D.C. has failed so many. Ryan knows, and we know, it is individuals, not government, hard work, not handouts and American ingenuity, not Washington bureaucracy that makes our country successful.
We can’t wait to see what a Ryan speakership looks like. We are confident it will be positive, productive and reform-oriented. We’re proud of Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan becoming speaker.
Anthony Birch is a senior majoring in political science and strategic communication and Alex Walker is a junior majoring in economics.
