This guy Ryan really gets it.
Catholic social doctrine is indispensable for officeholders, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to understand it. The wrong way is to treat it like a party platform or a utopian plan to solve all of society’s problems. Social teaching is not the monopoly of one political party, nor is it a moral command that confuses the preferential option for the poor with a preferential option for bigger government
...Usually, there isn’t just one morally valid policy. Instead, there are better and worse ones calling for respectful dialogue and thoughtful judgment. The moral principles are dogmatic; the political responses are prudential. ...
Sure, you can disagree; but don't dress up as a Moral Authority. The questions are more complicated than the Big Spenders think they are. (Assuming that they actually think.)
...Asked about rising government debt, Pope Benedict XVI has said: “[W]e are living at the expense of future generations … in untruth. We live on the basis of appearances, and the huge debts are meanwhile treated as something that we are simply entitled to.” It is immoral for governments to make promises they cannot fulfill.
Indeed. Stealing from children is despicable.
...Budgetary discipline is a moral imperative. ... Preferences for the poor, solidarity, subsidiarity, the common good and human dignity are disregarded when governments default and bankrupt economies stop producing. [As in Greece, Portugal, Ireland...] Economic well-being is a foundation stone of an enduring “civilization of love.”
...Economic prosperity is essential, but we believe wealth has moral worth when it serves higher purposes than materialistic consumerism.
Hear, hear!!
And my favorite hobbyhorse, too!!
...Pope Benedict warned that solidarity without subsidiarity “gives way to paternalist social assistance that is demeaning to those in need.” Our budget gives more power over federal anti-poverty dollars to the states, directed by governors and state lawmakers who are closer to the problem...
And he's forthright about eschatology:
...What kind of people do Americans want to be? We must not become a people of diminished hopes. We must not be a defeated people who worship the state as our greatest benefactor. We are called to be exceptional — comforting our neighbors in need while striving for a brighter future in this fallen world and for the perfect society that awaits us only in the City of God.
There's more at the link, and it is very good stuff.
HT: Leonardi
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1 comment:
And unemployment would need to drop to what percent in order for Ryan's dream to come true?
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