Paul Ryan is a good communicator. And yesterday was no exception — he captured exactly the problem with the Obama administration’s coercive HHS mandate.

“What we’re getting from the White House on this conscience issue, it’s not an issue about contraception, it’s an issue that reveals a political philosophy the president is showing that basically treats our constitutional rights as if they were revocable privileges from our government, not inalienable rights from our creator,” he said on Meet the Press yesterday.

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“We’re seeing this new government activism, paternalistic, arrogant, political philosophy that puts new government-granted rights in the way of our constitutional rights,” the House Budget Committee chairman continued.

“That’s really not about contraception,” he said of the HHS mandate debate. “It’s about violating our first amendment rights to religious freedom and conscience.”