U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson this morning ripped Democrats over health care reform and deficit spending, charging that "they want more government, and they are certainly willing to sacrifice our freedom in their quest for more power over our lives."

"For decades we have been trading bits and pieces of our freedom for the false promise of economic security. And now the bill is coming due," Johnson, R-Oshkosh, said in prepared remarks for a speech at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. "Liberals have done an excellent job of convincing generations of Americans that they are entitled to benefits and that someone else will pick up the tab. The result has been devastating to our culture and to our society."

Johnson recalled the story of the his daughter's life-saving heart surgery as an infant -- told many times during last year's campaign -- and accused liberals of demonizing doctors in order to pass health care reform legislation last year.

"You can see why I took such offense to the demagoguery," Johnson said. "Our daughter was saved by a group of medical professionals that were now targets of a coordinated liberal attack."

Johnson also encouraged the audience to pay attention to the "doomsday numbers" mentioned during CPAC, in particular arguing that the country's total unfunded liability exceeds the U.S. asset base by $39 trillion.

He also ripped the Environmental Protection Agency as "out of control" and said the nation's welfare system has "created incentives that have caused out of wedlock birth rates to skyrocket."

"What I have sadly witnessed over the course of my lifetime is a slow but steady drift -- and I would argue over the last two years, a lurch -- toward a culture of entitlement and dependency," Johnson said. "This is not an America I recognize. It is not an America that will work."

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