VALUES question for Paul Ryan: Do you believe selfishness is a virtue
Last edited Sat Aug 11, 2012, 09:23 AM - Edit history (1)
VALUES question for Paul Ryan: Do you believe selfishness is a virtue in modern society? If he answers "yes", then that's a nugget around which to build Democraiic campaign ads.
But if he answers "No", there are many video clips and documents available to brand him as a liar, denying many past public attestations of Ryan's fanatical devotion to enacting the teachings of Ayn Rand into Federal public finance.
Notable among thess documents is a letter over 90 Georgetown University faculty sent Ryan in April of this year. This letter asked him to address ideological issues in Ryan's 2012 US budget in a lecture he later delivered at the university. The Georgetown faculty chastized Ryan for advocating the views of Ayn Rand and for misusing Catholic social teachings in Ryan's absurd rationale for gutting and dismantling the vast majority of Federal aid programs for the poor.
WHAT'S YOUR OPINION?
From http://georgetownvoice.com/2012/04/26/faculty-question-rep-paul-ryan%E2%80%99s-use-of-catholic-social-teaching/
"Father Thomas Reese wrote a letter to Ryan on behalf of Georgetowns Jesuit scholars, challenging his use of Catholic social teaching to defend his budget and its destructive impact on the poor. The letter, ... signed by over 90 Georgetown faculty members across numerous disciplines, ... goes after what they view as the un-Christian aspects of Ryans policies. 'Your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ,' it reads. Fr. Reese described Ryans embrace of Rand as 'really remarkable. I mean, this woman was very anti-religion and anti-compassion or serving the poor. Her philosophy is based on selfishness ...'
Fr. Reese also criticizes Ryans interpretation of Catholic social teaching. 'This is where he uses the term 'subsidiarity,' Catholic social teaching very much wants things done at the lowest level possible„but the word possible is important there,' he said. 'And when something can't be dealt with at the lowest level possible, then institutions at a higher level have a responsibility to step in and do something.'"