Paul Ryan no longer wants to be held to his previous enthrallment with devout atheist and capitalist extraordinaire, Ayn Rand. He has disavowed Ms. Rand and her writings and her atheism. That's too bad, because he made such a good devotee of greed and self-centered cynicism.
Ryan has reclaimed his Catholic upbringing. Atheism is bad. People can't be good without the Christian god. Countries where people don't believe in the Christian god are liable to be torn asunder by evil and bad guys. Ryan wants to help make America a Christian nation again.
A recent segment on America Live on FAUX News compared Ryan to Reagan. That's how great FAUX News thinks Ryan is - he's great like Reagan. They can get by with such nonsense because most Republicans today either know nothing of Reagan or have forgotten what a bozo he really was, and how Reagan not only increased taxes during his somnolent reign but also grew mightily the size of the federal goverment!
On this segment Ryan said, "My dad died when I was young. He was a good and decent man. [Ryan didn't mention that his dad grew wealthy on the government's dime via special treatment and loans for his business!] There are a few things he would say that have just always stuck with me. He'd say, son, you're either part of the problem or part of the solution. [Whoa, shades of Reagan, right there!] Well, regrettably, President Obama has become part of the problem and Mitt Romney is the solution."
Oh, stop laughing. That's what he said. Yes, it is!
But Ryan had more to say along Reaganesque lines. Reagan liked to talk about the Christian god and suggested that said god was necessary for democracy and without that god good ol' America was a goner!
Ryan jumped right on top of that bandwagon, and you can see how far he's come after dumping Ayn Rand: "America is more than just a place, though. America is an idea. It's the only country founded on an idea. Our rights came from nature and God, not from government."
There's so much wrong with that statement that it would take a week to put it down on paper. What's the "idea" Ryan refers to? Our rights came from nature? Mother Nature? And they came from God? What god? Where is it written? Does our Constitution say anything about our rights coming from the Christian god?
No! The Constitution says "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Sounds like our rights come from the government which we, the people, created and which we have ordained "to form a more perfect union."
Not only so, but Mr. Ryan seems to have missed the part in the Constitution about how no religious test may ever be used for any political office in our land. They are both trying hard to pass the de facto religious test proscribed the religious right wing-nuts in this country! Ryan and Romney sound like they are running for Pastor in Chief what with all their religious allusions and illusions and delusions.
The above is prefatory to what follows. Romney is a Mormon and I don't know one single Christian denomination that would assent to the statement that Mormonism is "Christian." So, we're going to leave the non-Christian Romney out of the rest of this.
Ryan, as mentioned, has reclaimed his Catholic "status," and rejected Rand's atheism. Catholicism, is by most accounts, a Christian cult. Therefore, it would seem that someone like Ryan would try to put together a budget that reflected the values of Christianity: concern for the needy and the poor, concern for people's health, a rejection of the rich and their pretentious piety. One would think that Ryan would be hard-pressed to ignore the story Jesus told where he describes the questions God's going to ask at the Judgment. God's going to ask people why they didn't follow his commands and why didn't they show their love and concern for God while on earth. And they'll claim they did and point to their fine religious behavior and belief system. They will ask "When did we see you, Lord, and not tend to your needs?"
And God's accusing finger will knock all their rationalizations and justifications out of the water. I was sick and you did not visit me; I was in prison and you ignored me; I was hungry and you did not feed me.
Now Mr. Ryan, being a good, upstanding Catholic (at least for the past few weeks), should know all of this and his budget should reflect concern for the poorest and neediest in our society. Mr. Ryan, being a very wealthy man, should know that his wealth alone is probably going to bar him from entering the heavenly realm when he croaks. He should be very, very concerned - deeply concerned - that his actions represent his deepest beliefs. Because right now, just by being rich, he doesn't stand a chance in hell of getting into heaven. I didn't say that, Jesus did.
The Christian Republican Party, with the exception of Romney and other Mormons and a scattering of less-than-faithful believers, should also be concerned that their budget reflects Jesus' teachings. I mean, really, they proudly proclaim their godliness every chance they get! Let's see that godliness in action!
Unfortunately, godliness doesn't happen. Unfortunately, the Ryan budget, which 98 percent of all Republicans in Congress voted for, is ungodly and makes life more difficult for the elderly, the poor, the needy, and the sick, not to mention those in prison!
"[...] in April 2011, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecast that Ryan's scheme to convert today's guaranteed Medicare insurance program into an underfunded voucher system would dramatically shift the health care costs onto America's seniors."
There's more to all of this, of course. Rich Republican Christians reject their Jesus during the week but pander at his altars on Sundays. One of the greatest rejections of their savior is their budget plan, known as Ryan's budget: it is a disaster in the making for the elderly, the poor, the sick and most of the rest of the 99 percent!
And you can read exactly how it works out at Crooks and Liars here.
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