Rep. Paul Ryan, Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, thinks he knows Catholic doctrine better the bishops of the church themselves. That's how big an ego this guy has.
Ryan came up with a budget plan that cuts programs for the poor and middle-class and gives yet more tax breaks to the wealthy. Remember a while back there was a discussion about letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy lapse -- the "gimme more" breaks which never should have been inacted in the first place and have been going for more than 10 years? Well, Ryan not only wants to continue those, but he wants to give the wealthy even more money, despite the obvious proof that giving the wealthy more money doesn't help the economy whatsoever. Not to mention, if enacted Ryan's plan would make the deficit even worse than it already is.
In order to justify his rob-the-poor-to-pay-the-rich scheme, Ryan turned to what he thought was a winning gambit, using the teachings of the Catholic Church to justify his plan. He didn't just hint at this, he came right out and said it. The only problem was the Catholic Church was having none of it. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent him a letter (which you can read here) reminding him that the Bible frowns upon such things as cutting programs for the poor and hungry. They called his budget plan immoral. The Bishops of the Catholic Church ripped him a new one, and yet what did Paul Ryan have to say about the criticism from the leaders of his own church? "I suppose that there are some Catholics who for a long time thought they had a monopoly... on the social teaching of our church," he said, "but no more. The work I do as a Catholic holding office conforms to the social doctrine as best I can make of it." So take that, Bishops, you thought you knew what being a Catholic was all about!
In addition, the Bishops sent letters to other heads of Congressional committees urging them not to support Ryan's plan. I don't agree with the Catholic church about much of anything, but I have to give them kudos for (finally) calling out a Republican for proposing such drastic cuts to programs that help seniors and the needy so the wealthy can benefit. Where Republican lawmakers' sympathies lie could not be any more obvious than that.
Ryan is a disciple of Ayn Rand, who was a proponent of limited government, but also an atheist and supporter of abortion rights. Obviously not someone the Catholic Church wants their members to follow anyway.
We'll see how this shakes out, but my guess is Ryan's plan has zero chance of passing. Back to the drawing board, and next time try not to make your elitism quite so obvious.
