An immoral budget that shuns social justice - JSOnline

An immoral budget that shuns social justice - JSOnline:

In response to Ryan's Republican budget last year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warned House leaders that "a just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons." Just recently, the bishops' conference called on Congress to protect the safety net from harmful budget cuts. Ryan has ignored their wise counsel.

Ryan takes his Catholic faith seriously and has defended his policy approach in strong moral terms. But it seems he needs a refresher course in basic Catholic teaching. The Catholic justice tradition - as defined by bishops and popes over the centuries - holds a positive role for government, advocates a "preferential option for the poor" and recognizes that those with greater means should contribute a fair share in taxes to serve the common good.

Ryan and other conservatives hold tax cuts for hedge fund managers on Wall Street sacred even as they dismiss concern about rising income inequality as "class warfare." In contrast, Pope Benedict XVI denounces the "scandal of glaring inequalities." This is an accurate description when the 400 wealthiest Americans now have a greater combined net worth than the bottom 150 million Americans.

It seems that Ryan's budget is more indebted to his hero Ayn Rand than to the message of Jesus. Rand, a libertarian icon who mocked all religion and rejected the Gospel's ethic of compassion, has been praised by Ryan for explaining "the morality of individualism." Catholic values reject such radical individualism and the social callousness that it breeds.

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