Rep. Paul Ryan in Norfolk, Va. on Aug. 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
(CNSNews.com) - After Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced on Saturday that he was naming House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan as his running mate, Ryan delivered a speech saying he believed, "We are in a different and dangerous moment.
"We are running out of time," he said, "and we can't afford four more years of this."
"Politicians from both parties have made empty promises which will soon become broken promises--with painful consequences--if we fail to act now," said Ryan, speaking in front of the U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk, Va.
Ryan, who comes from Wisconsin, says people in his area of the country are worried that Americans may now need to downsize their dreams and recalibrate their vision of the future.
"I represent a part of America that includes inner cities, rural areas, suburbs and factory towns," said Ryan. "Over the years I have seen and heard from a lot from families, from those running small businesses, and from people who are in need. But what I have heard lately troubles me the most. There is something different in their voice and in their words. What I hear from them are diminished dreams, lowered expectations, uncertain futures."
Ryan, however, said he rejected the idea that Americans must now adjust to a "new normal" where America is not as prosperous as in the past.
"I hear some people say that this is just 'the new normal,'" said Ryan. "High unemployment, declining incomes and crushing debt is not a new normal. It's the result of misguided policies."
"We Americans look at one another's success with pride, not resentment, because we know, as more Americans work hard, take risks, and succeed, more people will prosper, our communities will benefit, and individual lives will be improved and uplifted," said Ryan.
The congressman said he believes that America's founding idea, that our rights come from God and that human beings are entitled to equal opportunity not equal results, is being attacked.
"But America is more than just a place, it's an idea," said Ryan. "It's the only country founded on an idea. Our rights come from nature and God, not government. We promise equal opportunity, not equal outcomes.
"This idea is founded on the principles of liberty, freedom, free enterprise, self-determination and government by consent of the governed," said Ryan. We are on an unsustainable path that is robbing America of our freedom and security. It doesn't have to be this way."
After Romney announced on Saturday morning that Ryan would be his running mate, the Obama for President campaign posted a video ad on its website denigrating the Republican ticket.
"Paul Ryan is the mastermind behind the extreme GOP budget plan," says the ad.
"But what does that budget mean for America?" the ad asks. "It hurts seniors. It hurts middle-class families. It hurts students. All to pay for tax cuts for those at the top. And Mitt Romney supports it all."
The ad ends with a screen that says: "Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: Back to the failed top-down policies that crashed our economy."
In a statement, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said, "Paul Ryan is best known as the author of a budget so radical, The New York Times called it 'the most extreme budget plan passed by a House of Congress in modern times.'"