--- title: Paul Ryan on Ferguson: Don't Rush to Judgment description: The Wisconsin congressman cautions against jumping to conclusions canonical: https://time.com/3145262/paul-ryan-dont-rush-to-judgment-on-ferguson/ author: Belinda Luscombe article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-19T20:15:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:58:07.367Z article:section: Politics og:title: Paul Ryan: Don't Rush to Judgment on Ferguson og:description: The Wisconsin congressman cautions against jumping to conclusions og:url: https://time.com/3145262/paul-ryan-dont-rush-to-judgment-on-ferguson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7a6e879ee8853aa/6986a0221eebf7b18d3724f5/4769836451.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2667 og:image:height: 1500 og:image:alt: Paul Ryan og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Paul Ryan: Don't Rush to Judgment on Ferguson twitter:description: The Wisconsin congressman cautions against jumping to conclusions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7a6e879ee8853aa/6986a0221eebf7b18d3724f5/4769836451.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Paul Ryan: Don't Rush to Judgment on Ferguson > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=bfece73c-f6a7-4699-b43f-e204d56e01d3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Paul Ryan on Ferguson [Watch (HLS stream): Paul Ryan on Ferguson](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FZBBIMPI.m3u8) (2:21)  _Published 2014-08-20. Congressman Paul Ryan says he's wary to make judgements on Ferguson before all of the facts are available._  by [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Aug 19, 2014 8:15 PM UTC  by [Belinda Luscombe](https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/)  ## Belinda Luscombe Editor at Large Aug 19, 2014 8:15 PM UTC Former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is not joining his Republican colleague Rand Paul in calling to demilitarize the police in light of events in Ferguson, Mo. Ryan, who’s currently on a tour promoting his new book The Way Forward, is calling instead for a note of caution. The Wisconsin congressman said it was too early to “jump to prejudging conclusions before evidence is in.” He added that he didn’t exactly know what Sen. Paul meant when he called for a demilitarization of the police. “I think it’s more important to be respectful of what’s happened, try to get to the truth and let the investigation take its hold,” Ryan said during an interview at Time’s offices. “Our police tactics, do they need to be reviewed? That’s something we should look at when the dust settles on all of this. But the rush to judgment with some broad brush assessment on all law enforcement tactics with respect to this particular incident, I think it’s a little premature to do that.” Asked if he can offer any insight on the situation in Ferguson after spending time in several poor urban neighborhoods, Ryan did not miss the opportunity to make his oft-stated case against government-led solutions to the issues faced by people in poor neighborhoods in America. “I think a lot of taxpayers, a lot of people in America have been basically given the sense inadvertently from the government that the government’s going to fix this problem,” he said. “You pay your taxes, and we the government will take care of this. That’s not good enough. That’s not going to cut it. That’s actually the wrong impression.” Instead, Ryan, echoing one of the themes of his book, called for a return to a more civil society. “People need to get involved in their communities. People need to get involved not necessarily with their money but with their time, with their talent, with their patience, with their love. And so the way I think we ought to approach this is we’d better be thinking about how to fight poverty eye-to-eye, soul-to-soul, person-to-person and reintegrate our communities instead of isolating people in our communities.” A fuller interview with Ryan will be in the magazine’s 10 Questions page in the next issue. ## Transcript Any insight to what's going on in Ferguson and why? It's a horrible tragedy, the way I look at this is I don't think it's smart jump to prejudging conclusion, before evidence is in. Before justice is served. But there are clearly some c, some, some real deep seeded problems. And the best way to fix these problems is to listen to people and engage with people, not isolate them. One of the problems II find in looking at how to better fight poverty is we isolate the poor, we marginalize the poor, we need to reintegrate the poor, and what happens is, if, I think a lot of taxpayers, a lot of people in America, have been basically given the sense, inadvertently, from the government. Then you know what? Poverty just pay your taxes, the governments going to fix this problem. You know, you're working hard you're, you're, you're, you're working maybe two jobs. You pay your taxes and we the government will take care of this. That's not good enough, that's not going to cut it. That's actually the wrong impression. People need to get involved in their communities. People need to get involved not necessarily with their money, but with their time, patience, and their love. The way I think we better approach this is fighting poverty from eye to eye, soul to soul, person to person and reintegrate our community. I think the marginilization of the poor. Is one of the worst stories, of the war on poverty now that we're in its 50th year and we have the highest poverty rates in a generation. So, Rand Paul has suggested that we need to demilitarize the police. Would you agree with that? I don't exactly know what he means when he says that. Well, you see them. They're turned out in their riot gear. They're, you know, they've got those big, A, again. I think, I don't want to be one of these to judge to conclusions. And also, I don't, I don't want to try to, to, I want to be respectful of the family. And the death, and the community, and what's happening. And I don't want to try and pursue some other kind of agenda in this moment. I think it's most, more important to be respectful of what's happened. Try to get to the truth and let the investigation take its hold. Our police tactics, do they need to be reviewed? That's something we should look at it when the dust settles on all this. But the rush to judgment, with some broad brush, assessment on all law enforcement tactics with respect to this particular incidence, I think it's a little premature to do that ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3145262/paul-ryan-dont-rush-to-judgment-on-ferguson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3145262/paul-ryan-dont-rush-to-judgment-on-ferguson/"},"headline":"Paul Ryan: Don't Rush to Judgment on Ferguson","datePublished":"2014-08-19T20:15:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T08:58:07.367Z","description":"The Wisconsin congressman cautions against jumping to conclusions","url":"https://time.com/3145262/paul-ryan-dont-rush-to-judgment-on-ferguson/","keywords":["police","Rand Paul","riots","Paul Ryan","Ferguson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7a6e879ee8853aa/6986a0221eebf7b18d3724f5/4769836451.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Belinda Luscombe","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/belinda-luscombe/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7a6e879ee8853aa/6986a0221eebf7b18d3724f5/4769836451.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Paul Ryan","caption":"Paul Ryan","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3145262/paul-ryan-dont-rush-to-judgment-on-ferguson/","name":"Paul Ryan: Don't Rush to Judgment on Ferguson"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Paul Ryan on Ferguson","description":"Congressman Paul Ryan says he's wary to make judgements on Ferguson before all of the facts are available.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FZBBIMPI/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-20T15:47:13.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FZBBIMPI.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3145262/paul-ryan-dont-rush-to-judgment-on-ferguson/","duration":"PT2M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3145262/paul-ryan-dont-rush-to-judgment-on-ferguson/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```