Paul Ryan says we’re at a fork in the road. And either way, we’re really forked.

Congressman Paul Ryan is one of the few politicians willing to tell the American people that they’re neck deep in a stinking pile of Democrat policy.

Here’s what he had to say on CNBC’s Squawk Box the other day:

“Are we going to reclaim the American idea — an entrepreneurial economy where you make the most of your life, you tap your potential, we reinvigorate the principles of liberty, freedom, free enterprise — and defend the morality of that — or are we going to abandon that and switch over toward a European-style, cradle-to-grave welfare state where we drain people of their incentive and will to make the most of their lives and make them more dependent on the government?”

“[Progressives] believe that we ought to have the government so much more involved in our lives, as the more determining factor in our lives, rather than ourselves. So we have to ask ourselves a question: Do we want an entrepreneurial society that gets prosperity turned back on in the 21st century, where individual merit, entrepreneurial activity defines the American economy, or are we going to have more and more people dependent on the government for their livelihoods? And that is going to drain them of their ability and their will to make the most of their lives. That’s sort of the fork in the road we are at, and it’s really being precipitated by the current direction of our government and the debt crisis because of entitlement explosion that’s coming in the future. Those things are coming together. We’ve got to make a decision in 2010 and in 2012 what kind of country we want to be in the 21st century economy.”

Let the chant begin: “Ryan! Ryan! Ryan! Ryan! Ryan!”