The Way Forward: Renewing the American Idea

by Paul Ryan

Overview

From the intellectual leader of the Republican party, an unvarnished look into the state of the conservative movement today and a clear plan for what needs to be done to save the American Idea.

The Way Forward challenges conventional thinking, outlines his political vision for 2014 and beyond, and shows how essential conservatism is for the future of our nation.

Beginning with a careful analysis of the 2012 election--including a look at the challenge the GOP had in reaching a majority of voters and the prevalence of identity politics--Ryan examines the state of the Republican party and dissects its challenges going forward.

The Way Forward also offers a detailed critique of not only President Obama but of the progressive movement as a whole--its genesis, its underlying beliefs and philosophies, and how its policies are steering the country to certain ruin.

Culminating in a plan for the future, The Way Forward argues that the Republican Party is and must remain a conservative party, emphasizing conservatism in a way that demonstrates how it can modernize and appeal to both our deepest concerns and highest ideals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781455557585
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	08/19/2014
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Paul Ryan has served as the United States Representative for Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District and chairman of the House Budget Committee. He was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2012 election.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Part 1 How We Got Here

Chapter 1 A Tale of Two Cities 3

Chapter 2 Sink or Swim 37

Chapter 3 Lesser of Two Evils 71

Chapter 4 The Battle of Ideas 102

Part 2 Where We Go from Here

Chapter 5 Beyond Makers and Takers 139

Chapter 6 Simpler, Smaller, Smarter 168

Chapter 7 A Virtuous, Not Vicious, Cycle 212

Chapter 8 The Comeback 246

Acknowledgments 261

Notes 263

Index 281

Editorial Reviews

03/15/2014
Whatever your political stripe, if you want insight into the impact of conservatism today, you'll want to investigate this book from Ryan, U.S. representative for Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District and chair of the House Budget Committee. A big focus on economics.

Library Journal

2014-09-10
Wisconsin Rep. Ryan, 2012 vice presidential candidate, enjoyed better press than his 2008 counterpart. Described on the jacket as "the intellectual leader of the Republican Party," he makes a more substantial literary debut than Sarah Palin in Going Rogue (2009), although that is a low bar. Born in a hardworking Midwestern town where "everyone pitches in," the author, who is the chairman of the House Budget Committee, studied economics in college, admiring conservative, free market thinkers like Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek and Ayn Rand. He interned in Washington, D.C., impressed everyone and won a House seat in 1998 at the age of 28. Rising to chair the Budget Committee, Ryan's advocacy of spending cuts and entitlement reform was frustrated by a leadership preoccupied, in Ryan's opinion, with winning elections instead of upholding Republican principles taught by America's Founding Fathers. Liberal only in his love of clichés, Ryan stresses that "irresponsible tax-and-spender" describes Democrats while admitting that "heartless penny-pincher" applies to some Republicans but not him. He proceeds to deliver perhaps too many examples of compassionate conservatism. Social Security, he maintains, is a noble program, but it is incompetently administered, underfunded and headed for bankruptcy. Ryan's criticisms are convincing, but his remedy is a cryptic mélange of pay-as-you-go and privatization to avoid raising taxes (unthinkable) or cutting benefits (political suicide). The jacket photograph of Ryan greeting voters, an American flag in the background next to a portrait of his smiling family, illustrates the book's problem. Genuine attempts to educate readers are sabotaged by his inability, as an elected official, to upset supporters. The result reads like a typical campaign biography: stirring, patriotic, flattering to readers and warning of national crises whose solutions will antagonize only those who will never vote for him.

Kirkus Reviews