Social Justice and the Ryan Budget

Rep. Paul Ryan defended his budget today in a speech at Georgetown and was met with protests over proposed cuts to welfare programs.  Yesterday he posted a letter in the Federal Register arguing for balanced use of the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity as the most effective means of addressing poverty and that his budget does that as best he understands the issue. He cites the Vatican's Compendium of Social Doctrine and Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Caritas in Veritate to support his position.

In response he has gotten letters from 90 faculty members and Jesuit priests from Georgetown and at least two Bishops criticizing the budget for failing to protect the poor and vulnerable and him for misapplying Catholic doctrine. The Letter from Georgetown faculty included a copy of the Compendium. It's a hefty tome and not for the faint hearted but Rep. Ryan appears to have read it. He thanked them for the fresh copy, saying his had become a bit worn. There are also numerous newspaper editorials and blogs out offering him lectures on scripture and Catholic morality. 

I come down on Rep. Ryan's side on this. None of his critics appear to address his basic argument, that something has to be done. The federal deficit is on an unsustainable track and poverty has reached levels unseen in my memory. No one has offered a credible alternative. President Obama's budget was voted down unanimously in the House. The Senate has failed to offer any budget at all.

The best anti-poverty measures are those that offer improved job opportunities. It is a fair criticism of the Ryan budget that it doesn't do that, but only if the critic has a better idea and I don't see any better ideas on the table. I don't see any other ideas on the table. I certainly don't see how raising taxes will do that.

I don't like seeing poverty programs cut. Any such cuts will be painful. But if the overall effect of the Ryan plan is ultimately to move more people out of poverty and into the middle class, that could be a good thing. Rep. Ryan believes it will, that it will lead to growing prosperity and opportunity for all. I have no reason to think he is insincere. He also believes the best way to minimize the pain is to move decision making to a more local level, a concept that is plausible and, as he says, entirely consistent with Catholic principles of solidarity and subsidiarity.

Rep. Ryan is also correct that there is room for reasonable Catholics to disagree. This a policy debate more than a moral one. Many of us can agree that the proper test is the effect on the most vulnerable among us. The question is what the effect will be, and what will be the effect of the available alternatives. What happens if we continue on our present course? What if we continue the poverty programs at current levels and raise taxes to pay for them?

The US Bishops argue that the proposed cuts fall disproportionately on the poor, that a more balanced approach would cut more unnecessary military spending and raise some taxes. Fair enough but the military is already facing some pretty drastic cutbacks and this remains a dangerous world. The bishops don't answer the question of how raising taxes promotes economic growth, or how a foundering economy affects the poor. Catholic Social Teaching does. The poor, especially the poor, if they are able are entitled  to dignified jobs that pay a living wage. Those of us in the ruling class, us voters if you will, are obligated as a matter of conscience to produce an environment that provides them.

Paul Ryan has thrown down the gauntlet with some fairly specific proposals to address some very complicated issues. He deserves a response that goes beyond moral posturing.