November 5, 2015 --

Congressman Paul Ryan, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, indicated on the CBS News Sunday interview program Face the Nation, November 1, that he intends "to reapply our founding principles," a pledge he made, previously, when he was nominated to be vice president on Mitt Romney's 2012 Republican presidential ticket. If the new House speaker is serious about using our founding principals as guide to governance, LPR expects that The Federalist Papers will be Speaker's Ryan's primary reference.

Consider: the way to get a car out of a skid is to steer in the direction of the skid. Similarly, the way to get the United States out of its present skid is to take the country in the direction of The Federalist Papers -- not away from them.

Federalist Paper No. 45 reminds us that the Constitution gave the federal government no more than "few and defined" powers. The left has taken us away from this counsel.

Federalist Paper No. 48 warns about the "encroaching nature of power" and advises that power "be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." The left has taken us away from this counsel.

Federal Paper No 57 assures that Congress will not enact "oppressive measures" and "can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass of the society." The left has taken us away from this counsel.

Federalist Paper No. 58 points out that the House of Representatives "hold the purse," and adds: "This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure."

The left has taken us away from this counsel -- indeed leftists undermine this counsel when they accuse Republicans of "shutting down" the government should they dare to use the power of the purse that is very much a "founding principle."

Federalist Paper No. 62 instructs: "It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood." The left has taken us away from this counsel.

Federalist Paper No. 75, concerning the treaty power, tells us that "it would be utterly unsafe and improper" to give to the president :the entire power of making treaties." Warning of the dangers presented by "[a]n avaricious man" or "[a]n ambitious man," No. 75 continues: "The history of human conduct does not warrant that exalted opinion of human virtue which would make it wise in a nation to commit interests of so delicate and momentous a kind, as those which concern its intercourse with the rest of the world, to the sole disposal of a magistrate created and circumstanced as would be a President of the United States." The left has trashed this counsel.

If Speaker Ryan intends to reapply our founding principles, all he needs to do is rely on the wisdom of...the founders, and keep a copy of The Federalist Papers on his desk.