Nat'l Catholic Reporter: Democrats new spending bill helps restore good government brand

[pnwmom]

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/democrats-new-spending-bill-helps-restore-good-government-brand

No one wants to jinx it, but it looks like the Democrats in the U.S. Senate finally devised a multifaceted piece of legislation that will lower the cost of prescription drugs, help combat climate change and establish a 15% minimum tax for corporations. All of it is "scrubbed," in the words of Sen. Joe Manchin, to make sure it does not add inflationary pressures on the economy.

Inflation is the No. 1, 2 and 3 issue for most Americans. Gallup tracks what issue most concerns voters, and 18% of voters named inflation specifically in the two most recent monthly surveys, and 12% and 13% named the economy in general in the May and June surveys, respectively. In June, another 5% identified fuel prices as their top issue. By way of comparison, only 8% in June identified guns and gun control as their top concern, 3% named racism, and 2% listed climate change and the environment.

So making sure that the policies being enacted will not contribute to inflation, and that they are seen by the public as not contributing to inflation, is important.

The most important part of the proposal involves taxation. The establishment of a 15% minimum tax for corporations is essential for the world economy, helping to end the practice of corporations moving all over the world in order to find ever-lower tax rates. What is more, the proposal — which I first wrote about in January 2021 — helps to redirect populist anger at the plutocrats in our society. In June 2021 the G7 agreed to the idea, but the Senate couldn't pass it so President Joe Biden looked ineffectual and his party looked still too beholden to Wall Street.

SNIP

[Old Crank]

1. Just how

In their minds does full on obstruction by every Republican make Democrats look beholden to Wall Street? These people have been selling that lie for decades while supporting the GOP at the expense of their own faith.

[pnwmom]

2. The Catholic Church isn't a monolith, and people in the pews are more progressive

than the Bishops or the average Protestant.

[wnylib]

3. How are you defining "average Protestant"?

[shrike3]

5. I would say the evangelicals are the problem.

Most mainstream protestants, Methodists, Presbyterians, that I know are good people.

Unfortunately, evangelical churches are growing while mainstream churches are struggling. Shame.

[wnylib]

7. To me, "average Protestant" is nearly

indefinable, but I would consider mainline Protestants to be "average." That would be Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, some Baptists.

I belong to one of those and frequently am involved with two other ones, as the churches often work together on community projects.

The earlier post that I responded to claimed that Catholics in the pews are not only more progressive than the bishops, but more progressive than the "average Protestant." Yet, the "average Protestant" churches that I am involved with are quite progressive and have former Catholics among their members who left the RC Church over progressive issues like abortion, birth control, LBGTQ rights, and women's rights.

Even the Evangelicals don't all fit into a single neat description. Some of the Evangelicals support women's rights in the workplace and offer legal help and shelter in abusive relationships, support birth control, but oppose abortion.

I just found the statement about progressives not in keeping with my experience.

[shrike3]

8. Well, it depends on what you mean by progressive.

Catholics in the third world may be conservative on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, but may put their bodies on the line frequently for the sake of human rights in countries rules by despots. None of this fits in a box.

I live in a ruby red state and have found evangelicals to be the ones most likely to espouse Trumpian values. Maybe it's different elsewhere. Progressive Catholics, again, in my experience, tend to gravitate to churches of color, in the inner cities. But even those folks don't fit into a box. There's a parish in my area, very wealthy, and despite my expectations their parishioners tend to walk the walk when it comes to helping the poor and dispossessed. They have a regular ministry that works at soup kitchens, the evening shelters. They're in the inner cities fixing up houses, giving out turkeys and hams at holiday time.

I used make assumptions about Baptists, but then the most Christian man I ever met turned out to be Baptist. Since then, I try and take people one at a time.

[wnylib]

12. The programs that you describe are carried out

by various progressive Protestant churches in my community, often working together. In addition, there is a shelter for abused women and children that also provides legal advocacy, a shelter for poor, single women and one for poor single men, a food bank that takes food, clothing, and hygiene donations from church members.

The Catholic churches in town used to work with some of the Protestant churches, but have grown insular and conservative. I used to teach English to native Spanish speakers through a Lutheran church outreach program. One of the Catholic churches had a Spanish mass once a week and sponsored dinners put on by Latin Americans to celebrate their heritage. Volunteers from both the Catholic and Protestant churches worked together on these programs.

But in the past few years, the Catholic churches pulled back from participation in community activities with other churches, except for anti abortion coalitions with some of the Evangelicals. They cancelled Spanish language masses and Latino cultural celebrations. They seem to have taken the position that interaction with progressive churches contaminates them by association. They have the right to make that choice, but then that hardly makes them progressive, which is the only point that I am making.

I don't dispute that the Catholic churches still do some good. After all, they do have their own Catholic Charities. But I disagree with calling them progressive.

[pnwmom]

11. But they aren't the average, numerically. There are more evangelicals and fundamentalists now,

than mainstream or mainline Protestants.

[pnwmom]

10. I mean non-Catholic Christians.

Which includes the whole range of Protestants, including evangelicals.

And the "mainline" Protestants, despite the name, probably aren't "average" anymore. This is from 2014, but I haven't heard that the percent of mainline Protestants has been increasing since then. Have you?

In 2014, Pew Research completed and published the Religious Landscape Survey in which it was estimated that 14.7% of US Americans identified as mainline Protestant, excluding historically Black and African American denominations, while 25.4% identified as evangelical Protestants, also excluding membership in historically Black denominations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainline_Protestant#:~:text=In%202014%2C%20Pew%20Research%20completed,Protestants%2C%20also%20excluding%20membership%20in

[shrike3]

9. I've found it tends to vary by parish.

Wealthy parishes being more conservative -- but even that doesn't always hold true. There's an extremely wealthy parish in my area which has ministries in the soup kitchens, homeless shelters. You never know.

[shrike3]

6. While trying to pass Civil Rights legislation, LBJ called upon the bishops who sent clergy to lobby

on Capitol Hill. I know that's hard to believe, but that's how it was in the '60s. After Vatican II the conservatives plotted a comeback and were successful. What happened in America kind of happened in the Catholic Church.

The American Church is only eight percent of the worldwide Church, and issues worldwide are quite different from those in America. The RCC in Brazil have joined up with other mainstream religious representatives to lobby on behalf of the Amazon and its peoples. Unfortunately, given who's in power in Brazil, progress is slow.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

4. And what do polls since Dobbs say? Roe your vote!

Roe, Roe, Roe your vote
against theocracy!
Republicans revoke your rights
and kill democracy!

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/