GOP’s ‘Ayn Rand’ Budget Targets Poor

[lakhota]

Religious Leaders: GOP’s ‘Ayn Rand’ Budget Targets Poor, Goes Against Religious Values

While religious conservatives and Republican political leaders gathered at the Faith and Freedom Conference in Washington this weekend, another group of religious leaders held a small gathering across the street to warn against the perils of the Republican Party’s fiscal priorities.

Four members affiliated with the religious group Faith In Public Life held a brief press conference during FFC’s afternoon intermission to denounce the GOP’s adherence to the philosophies of anti-government, anti-religion author Ayn Rand. The leaders — Rev. Jennifer Butler, Jim Wallis, Rev. Derrick Harkins, and Father Clete Kiley — asserted that the GOP efforts to cut funding from many anti-poverty programs while balancing the budget on the backs of the poorest Americans were not in line with Christian values:


The sky is falling on poor people in this country. The sky is falling. This time it really is. In the past, when we’ve done deficit reduction — and we’ve done it before — we’ve done poverty reduction at the same time. You can do both together. And every previous attempt there has been a bipartisan agreement to a given, a principle, that poor and low income people are not the ones to make hurt more when you’re making tough decisions. … They don’t bear the brunt of our fiscal irresponsibility because they didn’t cause it. We did not get into fiscal trouble because of poor people. … The poor didn’t cause this. Let’s not make them pay for it.

What we’re saying in the faith community, across the spectrum, is that a nation is judged — our Bible says — by how we treat the poorest and most vulnerable. Period. That’s what God says to us. That’s God’s instruction to us. To be faithful to God, we have to protect poor people.

Watch it:


Wallis and Butler repeatedly asserted that political leaders could not adhere to the teachings of both Rand and the church. “This budget has more to do with the teaching of Ayn Rand than the etchings of Jesus Christ,” Butler said. “I read [Rand] in high school, and she said, ‘You have to choose me or Jesus,’” Wallis added. “And so I did. She lost.”

Religious leaders have recently spoken out to House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) — both of whom are practicing Catholics — telling them that the cuts in their budget disproportionately target poor Americans and are thus out of line with Christian and Catholic teaching. Early in May, a group of Catholic bishops sent Boehner a letter denouncing the budget cuts. Ryan, meanwhile, has attempted to persuade Catholic bishops that his budget is in line with religious teaching. Kiley was skeptical today, however, saying Ryan handpicked phrases from Catholic teaching in attempts to justify his budget cuts, largely ignoring the majority of Catholic teaching.

thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/04/236238/progressive-faith-ayn-rand/

[ed1066]

Yeah! F*%k the poor!

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

If the GOP ever proposed anything resembling an 'Ayn Rand' budget, I'd become a Republican.

[handyman2]

My question is, we have and still do spend millions to help the poor. So why is it so many are still poor? Some I know if they get $100.00 this morning they will be broke by dark and have nothing to show for it. Since some quoted the bible I will add this it says feed the poor. You give them money and yet they do not buy food. I am speaking of the cronic poor when I say this.

[2kids10horses]

handyman,

I have to second you on that. I once had a Section 8 rental. I rented to a single woman with 4 kids. That first year, she didn't have to pay any rent herself, Section 8 paid it. She got a job. Made some money.

Next year, Section 8 made her start paying some of the rent. About 15% I think. She was frequently late, but we were eventually able to get all the rent.

Third year, Section 8 made her go up on her share again. 25%, I think. Always late. Had trouble "catching up" until... CHA.CHING!!! She got pregnant again! Last 3 months of her pregnancy, and first six months afterwards, Section 8 paid all the rent!

Fourth year, Section 8 went back and had her pay 15% percent again. Again, usually later with her share. But, she was eventually able to "keep current". But she's a fast learner... CHA CHING!!!! Preggers again!

So, in the 5th year, she doesn't pay rent for MOST of her pregnancy and for 6 months afterwards, Section 8 does.

I sold the house after this.

Now, I mention this last just because they're good at gaming the system: This house had central heat and air. Somehow, the meter got "bypassed" so she got free electricity. The meter never turned. I have no idea why GA Power didn't do anything about it.

Also, they stole cable TV by climbing the pole and splitting off the neighbors. Again, I have no idea how they didn't get caught.

So, Lakhota, tell me again how we're supposed to be so kind and helpful to "those less fortunate", and "most vulnerable"?

And don't think my tenant was the only one. When I would go to real estate investor seminars, all the landlords who had Section 8 housing told similar stories.

You see, all that liberal "Great Society" stuff did was to create an underclass of moochers. Moochers who will vote in Democrats to create more "rights" and "entitlements" for the "less fortunate".

[ungenteel]

<<You see, all that liberal "Great Society" stuff did was to create an underclass of moochers. Moochers who will vote in Democrats to create more "rights" and "entitlements" for the "less fortunate".>>

Since the right wing is into simplistic solutions ... simple answer ...fact ... there are too few jobs out there in private industry ... make people work for welfare with the federal government as the "employer of last resort" ... are you righties ready for that bureaucracy?

Would you let children go hungry and then self righteously say ... tsk ... tsk ... the parents were such near do wells

If you think that you can "force" people to find a job in the current job market ... you are suffering from the proverbial rectal cranial inversion

[handyman2]

Ungenteel these types of people mentioned did this when there were jobs to be had. If you notice I said I was speaking about the chronic poor not those that have lost jobs but those who game the system.
The children are hungry not because they are not getting assistance but because what money they get they waste on booze etc.

[lakhota]

Paul Ryan’s Ayn Rand Problem

I am fairly certain that when Paul Ryan first decided to publicly share his admiration of Ayn Rand, he could not have imagined it would lead to him speed-walking to his SUV to avoid a young Catholic trying to give him a Bible and telling him to pay more attention to the Gospel of Luke. But that’s what happened Friday morning in downtown Washington after Ryan spoke to the surprisingly smallish crowd gathered for Ralph Reed’s Faith & Freedom Conference.


These days, when people question a politician’s “morality,” they usually mean his or her personal behavior and choices. But an interesting thing is happening right now around the GOP budget proposal. A broad coalition of religious voices is criticizing the morality of the choices reflected in budget cuts and tax policy. And they’ve specifically targeted Ryan and his praise for Rand, the philosopher who once said she “promote[d] the ethic of selfishness.”

Across the street from the Faith & Freedom Conference Friday afternoon, a group of religious leaders continued the attack on what they now consistently refer to as “The Ayn Rand Budget.” Father Cletus Kiley, a Catholic priest, declared the Ryan budget “does not pass our test” of Catholic teachings, and suggested that supporters of the budget “drop Ayn Rand’s books and pick up their sacred texts.”

Rand’s influence on Ryan’s politics is also the subject of a new ad produced by the religious group American Values Network, which hopes to run the spot in Ryan’s district. It’s a stinging attack, and again, one that was wholly unanticipated by the Republican rising star.



swampland.time.com/2011/06/03/paul-ryans-ayn-rand-problem/?xid=huffpo-direct

[lakhota]

Budget battle pits atheist Ayn Rand vs. Jesus, say liberals

WASHINGTON — The atheist philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand published more than a dozen books before she died in 1982. Now, liberal Christians say another work belongs in Rand's controversial canon: the 2012 Republican budget.

House Republicans passed their budget along party lines in April, saying its drastic cuts to federal programs are necessary to prevent a deficit crisis.

But in a petition drive, video, ads, and websites, liberal Christians counter that Rand's dog-eat-dog philosophy is the real inspiration for the GOP budget and its author, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

"You've got a guy who is a rising Republican star, and who wrote the budget, saying he's read her books and Washington needs more of her values," said Eric Sapp, executive director of the American Values Network, which produced the video. "If you're a Christian, you've got to ask some serious questions about what's going on here."

In other words, Sapp argues, you can follow Ayn Rand or Jesus, but not both.

In novels such as Atlas Shrugged, the Russian-born Rand portrays American capitalists as heroes battling an encroaching government bent on milking their success. In nonfiction writings, Rand is more explicit about her Objectivist philosophy, which views religion as a "primitive" sop to the feeble-minded masses.

Tea Party Republicans have embraced Rand's writings, particularly Atlas Shrugged, which some argue foretells the Great Recession and Washington's extraordinary efforts to end it.

More: www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2011-06-03-Ayn_Rand_GOP_values_02_ST_N.htm

[lakhota]

THE AYN RAND DISCIPLE LEADING THE HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE....

In my circle of friends growing up, I can think of quite a few folks who, between the ages of 16 and 22, briefly fell under the spell of Ayn Rand. Someone loaned them a copy of Atlas Shrugged; they were convinced it was brilliant; and for a while, they were evangelists for the Randian cause.

Fortunately, this is just a phase some folks go through, and most of them feel embarrassed later.

Some, however, never really grow out of it. Take Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), for example, who'll become chairman of the House Budget Committee next month. Ryan, Christopher Beam notes in an interesting new article, "requires staffers to read Atlas Shrugged, describes Obama's economic policies as 'something right out of an Ayn Rand novel,' and calls Rand 'the reason I got involved in public service.'"

It prompted Jon Chait to flag a piece he wrote in March about Ryan and his borderline-creepy devotion to the philosophy of Rand.

Ryan would retain some bare-bones subsidies for the poorest, but the overwhelming thrust in every way is to liberate the lucky and successful to enjoy their good fortune without burdening them with any responsibility for the welfare of their fellow citizens. This is the core of Ryan's moral philosophy:

"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," Ryan said at a D.C. gathering four years ago honoring the author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead." ...

At the Rand celebration he spoke at in 2005, Ryan invoked the central theme of Rand's writings when he told his audience that, "Almost every fight we are involved in here on Capitol Hill ... is a fight that usually comes down to one conflict -- individualism versus collectivism."

The core of the Randian worldview, as absorbed by the modern GOP, is a belief that the natural market distribution of income is inherently moral, and the central struggle of politics is to free the successful from having the fruits of their superiority redistributed by looters and moochers.

I mention this, not because I find it bizarre that the House Budget Committee chairman forces his aides to read bad fiction, but because there's a larger takeaway about how the parties will get along in the next Congress -- or in this case, won't.

Talking to various aides on the Hill, I get the sense that Democrats tend to look at Paul Ryan as the kind of Republican they can at least talk to. Unlike so many GOP leaders, the far-right Wisconsinite appears to have read a book and learned how to use a calculator. When he speaks, Ryan tends to use complete sentences, and tends to resist at least some partisan bomb-throwing.

But there's a catch: the guy is a crackpot. A polite crackpot who, by contemporary Republican standards, takes his beliefs seriously, but a crackpot nevertheless.

Ryan doesn't want to search for common ground with Democrats; he's hopelessly convinced that Democrats are radicals intent on destroying modern capitalism. He considers the very ideas of charity and sacrifice deeply offensive. His entire worldview is so bizarre, it has no meaningful place in the American mainstream.

Matt Yglesias recently noted that Ryan "is a dangerous madman," and the description doesn't seem especially hyperbolic.

www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_12/027294.php

[lakhota]

Opinion: Does U.S. want Ayn Rand budget?

I catch my breath in surprise when I hear some American political leaders cite the teachings of the Russian-born philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand (1906-1982) as the basis of their political beliefs and policies.

According to Rand, the only proper function of government is to employ soldiers, policemen, and judges to protect private rights and private property. In her view, government has no business protecting people, animals, or the rest of the natural world from corporate interests. She said we Americans should abandon our present mixed economy and social-welfare programs in favor of “full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism — with a separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.”

In case anyone is in doubt about what life would be like in a purely capitalist America, Ayn Rand put forward her “Objectivist” doctrine in such novels as “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.” This puerile doctrine takes the ethical teachings of the world’s great religions and turns them on their head.

According to Rand:

• You are entirely independent of other people and owe them nothing.

• Only suckers make sacrifices for others.

• You are a fool if you love your neighbor as yourself.

• You are not your brother’s keeper. You have no responsibility for the welfare of others.

• Success (achievement) is everything in life.

• Superior people will (and should) rule the Earth for their own benefit.

• The poor and unsuccessful envy and resent their betters.

One politician who proclaims himself to be a follower of Ayn Rand is Congressman Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman. In rejecting the president’s current budget proposals, Ryan said he wants to eliminate welfare policies based on “envy.” Ryan is the author of the Republican budget plan that would repeal President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and would repeal Medicare for Americans under the age of 55.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ryan told people at an Objectivist gathering in Washington a few years ago, “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.”

Freedom Works, the organization founded by former Republican congressman and economist Dick Armey, is urging Tea Party members to go see a new movie based on “Atlas Shrugged.” The movie shows the heroic struggle of highly intelligent and creative billionaire industrialists against dim-witted totalitarian “looters” who are stealing their wealth through anti-monopoly regulations and income taxes.

After watching “Atlas Shrugged,” people might want to see another current movie, “Inside Job,” which explains the stock market crash of 2008. It will tell them who has been looting their checking and savings accounts and how their money has wound up in the possession of highly intelligent and creative investment bankers on Wall Street.

www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2011/04/17/opinion/doc4dab70a9264e4355087141.txt?viewmode=fullstory

[2kids10horses]

ungenteel,

My Section 8 tenant HAD a job. But, she found it was "easier" to mooch. By having more kids. By creating more dependants on society. Do you think she should continue to have more children she could not afford? Does she have a RIGHT to more food stamps because she chooses to continue to have children so that YOU and other taxpayers pay her rent?

Section 8 was not designed to be permanent housing. It was designed to give people a place to live until their circumstances improved and they could restart their lives. But, no! Why do that? It's easier to get free rent, food stamps, collect the dependant child credit, etc. than it is to be self supporting. Nevermind that the taxpayers paid for her high school education, she doesn't need that! No!!! The government will pay her to live, and produce more leaches.

No, I'm sorry. I think that she should have been prohibited from having any more children to contunue to receive Section 8 benefits. That was a CHOICE she made. To have more children. The taxpayers are having to pay for their food, housing, education, medical care. And what do these kids grow up to do? If they are girls, they get pregnant so they qualify for Section 8,and repeat the cycle. Boys, they latch onto a Wellfare momma and live with her, while they do their little drug deals.

You can say what you want about Ayn Rand. The reason we have such a lousy economy now is we have too many NON-PRODUCTIVE moochers. Who would rather collect wellfare than work.

You might not LIKE the truth, but the seeds of this underclass were planted by Lyndon Johnson and his "Great Society". And, you think "the rich" are to blame. And they should pay "their fair share". Well, if we define the rich as the top 2% earners (those that make more than $380,000 per year), they already pay over 40% of all Federal Income taxes collected. If you took ALL of their income over $380,000 as taxes, you would only pay for 6 months of the Federal Budget. So, the solution is NOT more taxes, it's LESS spending.

Starting with entitlements.

[2kids10horses]

And, I won't even go into how she and her heathens completely destroyed the house your tax dollars were paying for.

I've had ceiling fans in my house now for 20 years. I've never had a broken blade. Her house had 5 new ceiling fans when she moved in. When I went in for the inspection at the end of the first year to get her Section 8 lease renewed, I found every ceiling fan broken. They broke the blades off the fans! Every one of them. Of course, the light fixture part of the fan was broken, too.

I was required to have a light fixture in every bedroom. Sorry, I had put $100 ceiling fans in before, and they demolished them. I installed the cheapest sturdiest light fixture I could.

I really will spare you the details on what they did to the new berber carpet.

[handyman2]

The cold hard fact is that there comes a point where helping some becomes counter productive for the state and the person. They develop a dependent mentality. A lot of people started out dirt poor, I did and I am no smarter than any one else. but no one has to stay that way. All it takes is some personal pride and determination. Becoming a ward of the state destroy's one's pride.

[lakhota]

It's coldblooded how some try to portray ALL poor people as lazy scum. It would be almost as easy to portray all rich people as criminal scum; how many broken and dead bodies did they leave along the way on their climb to the top? How many laws did they break? History tells us much about those who suffered so the rich could be rich - from slavery to the Wall Street robber barons of today.

So, let's end this nonsense by simply stating that not All poor people are lazy scum and not ALL rich people are criminal scum.

We did not get into fiscal trouble because of poor people. … The poor didn’t cause this. Let’s not make them pay for it.

[lakhota]

How could anyone profess to be a "true" Christian and yet support the GOP's Ayn Rand Budget?

[cereb]

Jun 5, 2011 0:27:22 GMT -5 @lakhota said:

How could anyone profess to be a "true" Christian and yet support the GOP's Ayn Rand Budget?

Hmmm what to do...what to do. A karma for you for asking the 64 thousand dollar question.

[lakhota]

Three Things I Learned From Paul Ryan

staircasetwit.blogspot.com/2011/04/three-things-i-learned-from-paul-ryan.html

[lakhota]

Dear Paul Ryan, You Idiot

The people of New York's 26th Congressional District have spoken and they're your kind of people. It's solidly Republican. Should have been a sure thing. Here's the thing you don't understand about fucking with the old people's Medicare and Social Security. Those old people have children who would have to take care of them if they didn't have Medicare to pay their medical bills and have Social Security to live on. We old people spent a lifetime paying into that trust fund. We worked like dogs paying taxes to earn our right to retire with a minimum of security and now you want to give us a voucher so we can try to find an insurance company that will cover our hip replacement or cancer treatment? Get real you morons! You want to privatize Social Security? Hand it over to the very people who tanked the housing market and pension funds this last time around? We may have short memories, but you bastards are still refusing to extend unemployment for the 99ers and you're still looking the other way while unscrupulous mortgage companies in cahoots with crooked bankers are busting into peoples homes claiming they're not current on their payments on their upside-down worthless houses and turning them out. Why should we trust you with something as personal as our health care?

We watched spellbound as your newly minted TeaParty driven GOP controlled House of Representatives flanked you as you rolled out your brave new solution to controlling the problem of the "exploding deficit" (which, by the way, happened under your watch under your GOPer President GWBush and his wars and his unfunded bullshitery and tax breaks for his rich cronies and unfunded Medicare part D (which I happen to like by the way—too bad you didn't raise taxes on the rich to pay for it, morons). You'd rather cut every single thing that helps children and old people, the unemployed and the poor while you roll back regulations that protect us from all the abuses of power that got us into the mess we're in while you keep in place tax breaks for the gluttonously rich and the biggest of the bussinesses—those who rape and pillage the earth and ship their profits off-shore and pay nothing in taxes. I hope you're happy now. Can you feel the cold wind of defeat blowing your perfectly coiffed hair? Is that a shiver of fear running down your spine?

utahsavage.blogspot.com/2011/05/dear-paul-ryan-you-idiot.html

[Politically_Incorrect12]

I see we are back to this garbage of people equating not thinking the government is the best place to help the "poor" is the same as thinking they should starve in the streets. Ironic that this post came from a poster that generally bashes religion...but I guess he hate Republicans more than religion right now.

[2kids10horses]

So, Lahota, let's take all the money away from the evil rich, and give it to government to fairly dispense it out.

Let's see... I think Russia tried that.

Ask them how that worked out for them.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jun 5, 2011 0:27:22 GMT -5 @lakhota said:

How could anyone profess to be a "true" Christian and yet support the GOP's Ayn Rand Budget?

Underlying premise- that the GOP has proposed anything like an "Ayn Rand" budget- rejected.

Nevertheless, I support libertarian policies because individual rights endowed by the Creator such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are a better foundation for a society than covetousness and thievery.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jun 4, 2011 23:16:31 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

The cold hard fact is that there comes a point where helping some becomes counter productive for the state and the person. They develop a dependent mentality. A lot of people started out dirt poor, I did and I am no smarter than any one else. but no one has to stay that way. All it takes is some personal pride and determination. Becoming a ward of the state destroy's one's pride.

Exactly conservatism doesn't need the big spending "compassionate" adjective. True conservatism IS compassionate.

[ed1066]

Hey, I'm uncomfortable and offended by all of Lakhota's Christian preaching on this thread. I don't like him trying to force his religious beliefs on me. Isn't there a board for Christian religious fanatics somewhere else?

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

It is encouraging to see that the left has no well thought out policy alternative to Paul Ryan. I like that they're in full-blown, scared-animal meltdown over a single sensible, moderate proposal to save entitlement programs. The Democrat plan is quite simple, and understood by huge majorities of conservatives and independents, and even a plurality of Democrats-- keep spending until we're bankrupt; and raise taxes. That's your team's plan, Lak, and I say-- bring it. Democrats are going to go down in flames (again) in 2012.

[lakhota]

Democrats want Single Payer, but Republicans won't even consider a Public Option.

[Politically_Incorrect12]

Jun 5, 2011 19:11:19 GMT -5 @lakhota said:

Democrats want Single Payer, but Republicans won't even consider a Public Option.

Not all Democrats want single payer...if that were true, they would have passed it when they had super majorities. Before you, or anybody else tries to start the nonsense that they wanted to work with Republicans, the truth is they compromised to get more votes they needed from the moderates in their own party. I wonder how popular Dems feel a single payer system would be IF they were honest about the actual cost and tax rate needed for it (and not just say the rich will pay for it).

[lakhota]

Democrats never had a "Super" majority!!!!! Their so-called "Super" majority included Dinos like Ben Nelson and others.

“FYI: the Dems NEVER had a supermajor­ity under Obama.

To have a supermajor­ity (= to be able to break a filibuster­) the Dems need 60 Senators. They only had 58 Senators for some months in 2009, 57 Senators most of the time in 2009, and 57 or 56 in 2010.

So in 2009 they systematic­ally needed ALL the Dem Senators (progressi­ves, moderates and Blue Dogs alike, which already isn't very easy) AND at least two Independen­ts or Republican­s to be able to vote on a bill.

And in 2010 they needed ALL the Dem Senators, all the Independen­ts, and at least one Republican to be able to vote a bill.

So ... if you want a government that represents you, the best thing to do is to start analyzing how it works ... instead of simply believing pundits ... ;-)”

www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Beatriz09/obama-youth-vote-millennials_n_859685_87638515.html

[lakhota]

Jun 5, 2011 19:17:48 GMT -5 Politically_Incorrect12 said:

Jun 5, 2011 19:11:19 GMT -5 @lakhota said:

Democrats want Single Payer, but Republicans won't even consider a Public Option.

Not all Democrats want single payer...if that were true, they would have passed it when they had super majorities. Before you, or anybody else tries to start the nonsense that they wanted to work with Republicans, the truth is they compromised to get more votes they needed from the moderates in their own party. I wonder how popular Dems feel a single payer system would be IF they were honest about the actual cost and tax rate needed for it (and not just say the rich will pay for it).

I suspect you're not highly informed about Single Payer. Single Payer is without doubt the best way to go. However, it'll never happen in my lifetime. Why? Because there are never enough honorable, unbought politicians in office at one time to get it done.

Single-Payer National Health Insurance

www.pnhp.org/facts/single-payer-resources

[lakhota]

Paul Ryan was once employed as an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile driver. Seriously.

Apparently Paul Ryan went from driving the Wienermobile to driving the Clown Car of Republican economic and social policy. We are so screwed.

afarmerinohio.blogspot.com/2011/04/paul-ryan-drove-oscar-mayer.html