It is reported that Congressman Paul Ryan makes every member of his staff read philosopher Ayn Rand, the shameless promoter of the gospel of aggressive self-interest. This makes sense to me as I read Congressman Ryan's new budget proposal. I wish he had his staff reading the Bible instead.
While widely lauded by conservatives, Congressman Ryan's budget isn't really about deficit reduction. It's about choices -- choices that will determine what kind of a country we become. And Paul Ryan has made the choice to hurt people who don't have the political clout to defend themselves. Two-thirds of the long term budget cuts that Ryan proposed are directed at modest and low-income people, as well as the poorest of the poor at home and abroad. At the same time, he proposed tax cuts up to 30 percent for some of our country's wealthiest corporations. Let me say that again: Two-thirds of the cuts come at the expense of already struggling people and families, while corporations posting record profits get tax breaks. In short, the most vulnerable members of society are being attacked by Ryan and his supporters. This makes them bullies.
In dramatic contrast, Ryan has chosen to help the people who need help the least. Wealthy individuals and companies reap a windfall of benefits in Ryan's plan -- with tax cuts and breaks, continued subsidies and loopholes for every powerful special interest, and increased corporate welfare payments from the government. Congressman Ryan and his supporters have carefully and faithfully rewarded the rich people who make their campaign contributions, and, in most cases, have also rewarded themselves as rich people. This makes them corrupt.
And, as self-professed budget hawks, they have completely ignored the most consistently egregious, wasteful, and morally compromised area of the whole federal budget -- our endless and unaccountable military spending. Paul Ryan and the Republicans would cut nothing from the Pentagon profligacy. This makes them hypocrites.
You may think that my language sounds too strong: "bullies", "corrupt", "hypocrites." But listen to the prophet Isaiah:
"Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims -- laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, exploiting defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children. What will you have to say on Judgment Day, when Doomsday arrives out of the blue? Who will you get to help you? What good will your money do you?" (Isaiah 10:1-3, The Message)
Ryan's budget seems to follow, almost line by line, the "oppressive statues" Isaiah rails against. Ryan's budget slashes health care for the poor and elderly by gutting Medicaid and undermining Medicare, and cuts funding for food stamps, early childhood development programs, low-income housing assistance, and educational programs for students.
Cuts of this magnitude for people of modest and low-incomes will result in a direct increase of poverty and misery in America. Furthermore, poverty-focused international assistance proven to save lives is under continued attack. As Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson said, not all cuts are equal because some will lead to "a fever and a small coffin."
Simply put, the Ryan budget is a bonanza for the rich and devastation for the poor, and it will never be accepted by the religious community. And I don't believe Ryan's budget expresses the values of the American people. I just don't believe it. (You can click here if it doesn't represent your values.)
Of course, many Americans, including the faith community, believe that rising deficits are immoral and a threat to our future. But how you reduce a deficit is also a moral issue, and to do so by further impoverishing the poor in order to add more wealth to the wealthy is not an acceptable political or moral strategy.
Ayn Rand said, "Money is the barometer of a society's virtue," and she made no apology for not liking the teachings of Jesus. But for those of us who do aim to live out the teachings of Jesus, the Paul Ryan budget is a moral non-starter.
Yesterday, as President Obama offered his budget, he both failed and succeeded. What Obama failed to say was that we are currently wasting lives and billions of dollars in Afghanistan on a strategy that fails to make us any safer. Today, I am joining with some fiscal conservatives and Republican members of Congress at a "ReThink Afghanistan" press conference. We don't agree on a lot of other budget issues, but we are united in our belief that we are wasting lives and money with misguided strategy in Afghanistan. For those who truly care about the deficit, I believe this is the first place we should start cutting.
The president succeeded yesterday by making this important statement: "In the last decade, the average income of the bottom 90 percent of all working Americans actually declined. Meanwhile, the top 1 percent saw their income rise by an average of more than a quarter of a million dollars each. That's who needs to pay less taxes? They want to give people like me a $200,000 tax cut that's paid for by asking 33 seniors each to pay $6,000 more in health costs. That's not right. And it's not going to happen as long as I'm President."
This last line was the clearest message we've heard for some time from the White House. It's a message President Obama will have to repeat over and over again in the months ahead against all the pressures to compromise. Presidents sometimes have to draw some clear lines in the sand, and the time for this president to do that is now.
Jim Wallis is the author of Rediscovering Values: A Guide for Economic and Moral Recovery and CEO of Sojourners. He blogs at www.godspolitics.com. Follow Jim on Twitter @JimWallis. +Click here to get email updates from Jim Wallis
Follow Jim Wallis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jimwallis
Rep. Jackie Speier: 10 Reasons to Bring Our Troops Home From Afghanistan on 10th Anniversary of War
Levi Ben-Shmuel: Does Isaiah's Peaceful Prophecy Have a Chance?
Sheldon C. Good: A Budget To Protect The Poor
When the Govenment sends the tax man out to my neighbor's house and forces money from him to pay for my mother's medicine, that is the crime of stealing. That is "spreading the wealth". When my neighbor sees that I am in need of help to buy medicine for my mother and offers of his free will to assist, that is not a crime. That is "sharing the wealth".
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I recall those days when the Catholic Church stood side by side with the citizens against political tyranny. Now the RCC is but another Corporation standing with the neocons in support of Corporatism. All churches need to reflect on their political positions and decide if they stand with the people or the government.
Yes, like the bible will solve anything. People quickly forget the prosperity gospel christians.
Ill be honest, liberal or no, Christians give me a creepy vibe, and I post here to warn people of the mpending theocracy they choose to ignore.
These legislators need to disavow any claims they might make of being Christian.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
I would be more pleased if Ryan read, understood, and recommended Camus, Dostoyevski, Steinbeck, and Twain. Ayn Rand is simplistic and appeals to the sophmoric beginning reader. She allows no room for nuance and her philosophy only works for the "brutish," not for the "fittest" in our complex societies.
In Matthew 5: 14. Jesus says to those willing to follow his teaching, “You are the light of world. A city set on a hill, cannot be hidden."
In ihe preceding verse, Jesus’ followers lose their character or taste and value when they shun his teaching. “13 You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, ... It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
In 1630, Governor John Winthrop's mentioned this "City" in his sermon, “A Model of Christian Charity” on the ship bringing the first Puritan arrivals to Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The Governor starts by observing the presence of rich and poor. Next he presents a dense argument, supported by many scriptural citations, that the rich, are called by God to support the needy. He ends with a dire warning.“… If our hearts shall turn away (from “Christian Charity), … and worship … our pleasure and profits, and serve them; … we shall surely perish. … ”
Both Jesus' teaching and Governor John Winthrop's sermon concern social safety nets. The way our commitments to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are honored should concern all Americans And for believers, we will realize that America, "A city set on a hill, cannot be hidden," from the judging eyes of God!
However, none are so blind as those who will not see.