Every citizen who calls himself/herself a "conservative" must begin to use every means available to connect the dots and direct relationship between what is called the "size of government" and the above fact!
Once ordinary working citizens understand the connection between the money "taken" from them, as shown on their pay stubs and the increase in size and pay/benefits of federal employees over recent years, they will understand why Ryan's plan makes sense for them.
So-called Democrat "progressives" promote an idea of moral equivalency between "jobs" in wealth-creating private companies and wealth-depeting jobs in all levels of government. Then, Democrats rely on what they believe to be economic ignorance of working people to make that connection.
Ryan may just be the person who can make the connection crystal clear.
What is "big government" but massive government employment, combined with politicians and bureaucrats? To reduce the size requires taking away the government "bottle" from the mouths of those who feed on the hard work of their private sector neighbors.