The budget gospel according to the prophet Ryan

Ayn Rand, one of Ryan’s heroes, said, "Money is the barometer of a society's virtue," and she made no apology for not liking the teachings of a compassionate Jesus. In my mind, that automatically puts the Paul Ryan budget as a moral non-starter

Note: Throw on your flame retardant suits, Rocky's on a hellfire and brimstone tear and rightly so.

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By Rocky Boschert

Financial Editor

Apparently Republican budget ubermensch 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 – given Congressman Ryan's new budget proposal. Given how coldhearted and compassionless his budget really is, maybe he and his staff should read the Bible instead.

While widely lauded by his fellow Republicans (I refuse to call them what they are not: “conservatives”), Congressman Ryan's budget isn't really about deficit reduction. It's about the economic choices that will ultimately determine what kind of a country we want to become. Sadly, the Ryan budget has made the choice to further diminish American citizens who don't have the political and economic clout to defend themselves.

Shamelessly, two-thirds of the long term budget cuts that Ryan and his ilk proposed are directed at modest and low-income people, as well as the poorest of the poor. At the same time, he proposes more tax cuts of up to 30 percent for some of our country's wealthiest individuals and corporations. In short, the most vulnerable members of society are being attacked by Ryan and his supporters. In my mind, this clearly makes them bullies.

In dramatic written contrast, the Ryan budget helps Americans who need help the least. Wealthy individuals and companies reap a windfall of benefits in Ryan's plan – with even more 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 elite and the clients of corporate lobbyists who make their campaign contributions, and, with no shortness of arrogance, have also rewarded themselves as “superior” rich people. In essence, this makes them corrupt.

And, as self-professed but disingenuous budget hawks, Ryan and his cronies have completely ignored the most consistently egregious, wasteful, and morally compromised area of the entire US federal budget – our endless and unaccountable military spending and our failing war machine. Paul Ryan and the Republicans would cut nothing from the Pentagon profligacy. This also makes them the worse of power addicted hypocrites.

Is this language too strong? "Bullies," "corrupt," "hypocrites." If you think so, 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 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 follows almost line by line the "oppression" Isaiah rails against. Ryan's budget slashes health care for the poor and elderly by gutting Medicaid, privatizes Medicare for the benefit of insurance companies, and cuts funding for food stamps for families, 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 attack. Simply put, the Ryan budget is a bonanza for the rich and economic devastation for the poor, seniors, and the sensibilities of any American with a true Christian, spiritual, or social justice conscience. And hopefully it will never be accepted by the religious community.

So, does Ryan's budget express the values of the American people? Or are the American people so morally defeated after 9/11, two major recessions (where no one went to jail), and two wars which have created massive debt and hundreds of thousand dead – one based on lies and another failing miserably?

Of course many Americans believe that rising deficits are immoral and a threat to our future. But how you reduce a deficit is the real moral issue. And to do so by further impoverishing an already weakened middle class and poor as well as children and senior citizens - in order to add more wealth to the wealthy - is not an acceptable political or moral strategy.

Ayn Rand, one of Ryan’s heroes, said, "Money is the barometer of a society's virtue," and she made no apology for not liking the teachings of a compassionate Jesus. In my mind, that automatically puts the Paul Ryan budget as a moral non-starter.

Shortly after Ryan offered his bully indifference budget, President Obama offered his budget, where 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.

Where the president did succeed was 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 fewer taxes?"

This last line was the clearest message we've heard for some time from the White House. Sadly, and suspiciously, it came after the President already compromised on extending the Bush tax cuts. Are these nothing more than new second term false campaign promises? Hopefully not! But I for one am not going to trust and wait.

In the end this mean-spirited Republican and cowardly compliant Democrat budget attack on the middle class, the poor, children and seniors needs to be stopped now. Progressives, cynical liberals, compassionate small government conservatives and sensible libertarians need to come together and speak out vehemently against this new 21st century bully and hate budget put forth by these covetous politicians and their elitist masters.

And all politics aside, there is hopefully one thing we can all agree on: We are wasting precious lives and needed money with a misguided and endless strategy in Afghanistan. For those of you who truly care about the US budget deficit, this is the first place we should declare a budget war.

Ayn Rand

"I loathe humanity for its failure to live up
to its highest possibilities."

– Ayn Rand