Posted on 09/06/2012 12:47:40 PM PDT by NYer
(RNS) Paul Ryan has been taking a lot of heat over the factual accuracy of claims he made in his prime time address at the Republican convention last week, but Wednesday night at the Democratic confab the GOP vice-presidential candidate – and practicing Catholic – was schooled by a popular nun on the moral shortcomings of his budget proposals.
“Paul Ryan claims this budget reflects the principles of our shared faith,” Sister Simone Campbell, who became a celebrity of sorts this summer when she led the national “Nuns on the Bus” tour for social justice, told cheering Democratic delegates in Charlotte.
“But the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that the Ryan budget failed a basic moral test, because it would harm families living in poverty,” Campbell said.
“We agree with our bishops, and that's why we went on the road: to stand with struggling families and to lift up our Catholic sisters who serve them. Their work to alleviate suffering would be seriously harmed by the Romney-Ryan budget, and that is wrong.”
By framing her critique in the context of her Christian faith, Campbell was directly challenging the Republicans in the kind of religious language that has been a hallmark of the GOP’s campaign to rally believers behind Mitt Romney and Ryan.
Sister Simone Campbell addresses an audience Monday July 2, 2012 to concluded the Nuns on the Bus tour.
But she also sought to identify the sisters and the Democratic agenda with Catholic tradition at a time when Catholic voters – who comprise close to one-quarter of the electorate – are considered key to the November election.
Just as important, Campbell neatly folded her remarks in with statements from the Catholic hierarchy, which has had more than its share of disagreements with President Obama and the Democratic Party over issues like gay marriage and abortion.
Campbell did not address those hot-button issues directly, but she did defend Obama’s health care reform law as a cause she considers “part of my pro-life stance and the right thing to do.”
“In Cincinnati, I met Jini, who had just come from her sister's memorial service,” Campbell said in one of several anecdotes she related from the summer bus tour of nine states. “When Jini's sister Margaret lost her job, she lost her health insurance. She developed cancer and had no access to diagnosis or treatment. She died unnecessarily. That is tragic. And it is wrong.”
Like many other speakers so far, Campbell underscored the plight of poor and working class Americans in the recession, and pointed to Democratic policies as both the most effective answer, and the most moral one.
“During our journey, I rediscovered a few truths,” Campbell said. “First, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are correct when they say that each individual should be responsible. But their budget goes astray in not acknowledging that we are responsible not only for ourselves and our immediate families. Rather, our faith strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another.”
“I am my sister's keeper. I am my brother's keeper,” she said in one of several lines that drew rousing applause.
Here is the text of Campbell's remarks:
Good evening, I'm Sister Simone Campbell, and I'm one of the "nuns on the bus." So, yes, we have nuns on the bus. And a nun on the podium!
Let me explain why I'm here. In June, I joined other Catholic sisters on a 2,700-mile bus journey through nine states to tell Americans about the budget Congressman Paul Ryan wrote and Governor Romney endorsed.
Paul Ryan claims his budget reflects the principles of our shared Catholic faith. But the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that the Ryan budget failed a basic moral test, because it would harm families living in poverty.
We agree with our bishops, and that's why we went on the road: to stand with struggling families and to lift up our Catholic sisters who serve them. Their work to alleviate suffering would be seriously harmed by the Romney-Ryan budget, and that is wrong.
During our journey, I rediscovered a few truths. First, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are correct when they say that each individual should be responsible. But their budget goes astray in not acknowledging that we are responsible not only for ourselves and our immediate families. Rather, our faith strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another.
I am my sister's keeper. I am my brother's keeper. While we were in Toledo, I met 10-year-old twins Matt and Mark, who had gotten into trouble at school for fighting. Sister Virginia and the staff at the Padua Center took them in when they were suspended and discovered on a home visit that these 10-year-olds were trying to care for their bedridden mother who has MS and diabetes.
They were her only caregivers. The sisters got her medical help and are giving the boys some stability. Now the boys are free to claim much of the childhood they were losing. Clearly, we all share responsibility for the Matts and Marks in our nation.
In Milwaukee, I met Billy and his wife and two boys at St. Benedict's dining room. Billy's work hours were cut back in the recession. Billy is taking responsibility for himself and his family, but right now without food stamps, he and his wife could not put food on their family table.
We all share responsibility for creating an economy where parents with jobs earn enough to take care of their families. In order to cut taxes for the very wealthy, the Romney-Ryan budget would make it even tougher for hard-working Americans like Billy to feed their families. Paul Ryan says this budget is in keeping with the moral values of our shared faith. I disagree.
In Cincinnati, I met Jini, who had just come from her sister's memorial service. When Jini's sister Margaret lost her job, she lost her health insurance. She developed cancer and had no access to diagnosis or treatment. She died unnecessarily. And that is tragic. And it is wrong.
The Affordable Care Act will cover people like Margaret. We all share responsibility to ensure that this vital health care reform law is properly implemented and that all governors, all governors, expand Medicaid coverage so no more Margarets die from lack of care. This is part of my pro-life stance and the right thing to do.
I have so many other stories but let me tell you one more. In Hershey, Pennsylvania, a woman in her late thirties approached us. She asked for the names of some people she could talk to, because she felt alone and isolated. Her neighbors have been polarized by politics masquerading as values. She cares about the well-being of the people in her community.
She wishes they, and the rest of the nation, would listen to one another with kindness and compassion. Listen to one another rather than yell at each other. I told her then, and I tell her now, that she is not alone.
Looking out at you tonight, I feel your presence combined with that of the thousands of caring people we met on our journey. Together, we understand that an immoral budget that hurts already struggling families does not reflect our nation's values. We are better than that.
So I urge you, I urge you, join us on the bus. Join us as together we stand with Matt and Mark, Billy and his family, the woman in Hershey and the Margarets of our nation.
This is what we nuns on the bus are all about: We care for the 100 percent, and that will secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our nation. So join us as we nuns and all of us drive for faith, family and fairness.
She might be a Catholic but she’s a socialist as well; making synonyms out of the terms “society” and “government” and placing HER benevolent priorities on the backs of taxpayers and under the control of government - NOT society.
Socialist Christian tell themselves and everyone else that THEY want to “give” more to certain “charitable” causes, but they lie to themselves; they do not really believe that they want to give more; they want to take more; because even in a democracy socialism is no more than 51 out of 100 deciding how much they claim the right to take from the other 49. Such demands have nothing to do with Christian giving.
Anytime the thought of leaving the Catholic Church crossed my mind I decided that the better course was to stay and keep fighting to try and change it for the better.
If the majority ever turned up agreeing with this nun though I’d have to reconsider.
--was a sarcastic response, and
--was not answered in the affirmative my the Almighty.
Abel didn't need his brother to be his keeper.
He didn't need Cain to be his murderer, either, and that's the whole point.
By the way, anyone who sets up to be my keeper is going to be in for a certain degree of resistance right off the bat, which will only escalate.
WRONG!
We did have tariffs during those times. Those depressions were caused by the business cycle and being on the gold standard, which caused periodic bouts of deflation which resulted in deflationary depressions.
Going into the Great Depression, imports were only 4% of GNP and exports were 5%. The net change in Imports/Exports during the Great Depression was only 0.2% of GNP.
During the Great Depression we raised Import tariffs up much higher than normal (Smoot Harley) and Smoot Harley was blamed by some for causing the Great Depression. Only two things are wrong with that. We were already in the Depression when Smoot Harley was enacted, and international trade simply wasn't a big enough component of GNP to be the cause.
Now imports are 16% of our economy. And when you consider how large the wage differential is between third world countries such as China and the U.S., you can see that 16% equates to a much larger pre-outsourced piece of the U.S. economy.
Example, if you take products that are 80% labor at $8/hr jobs and outsource them to countries that work for $2/day ($0.25/hr). A $10 product ($2 material + $8 labor) now costs ($2 + $0.25) = $2.25. Then $2.25 of imports was worth $10 in the pre-outsourced American economy.
That outsourcing is good for consumers, but they quickly lose their jobs and cease to be consumers as the economy canibalizes itself.
You will not avoid the business cycle complete no matter what you do, because it's rooted in consumer psychology. However, monetary policy is effective and minimizing it, and thus we've only had recessions not depressions since the Great Depression.
But the current economic crisis is different specifically because of the amount of goods that we have outsourced. Your can see that in the (Imports = 4% of GNP in 1930, vs 16% of GNP now). We've seriously damaged the job base in the U.S. and neither candidate seems to recognize it.
I didn’t leave the Catholic Church, it left me
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Likewise.
I even gave it a 2nd chance and couldn’t believe how much worse it had gotten - at least in my opinion, which in the case of religious choices, mine/yours is the ONLY one that counts for the individual.
I didn't say never. I said "arbitrary" cuts to medicaid at this time was wrong and the 'rats were right to hit Ryan over it.
"Did you know that EVERY woman over the age of 35, regardless of income can get WIC (one of the programs reduced in the Ryan budget)? When my husband made 60,000 a year, I could get WIC with my younger daughter because I was 39."
That's not what the USDA site says, it says "To be eligible for WIC, applicants must have income at or below an income level or standard set by the State agency or be determined automatically income-eligible based on participation in certain programs."
But even if that were true, then a specific cut that installed income eligibility would be appropriate and defendable, not an arbitrary cut.
"So let’s get realistic about “cuts to the poor”. Maybe they are perfectly reasonable. My niece..."
I don't know the specifics of your niece or your situation. I'd be in favor of combining all assistance programs and itemizing the assistance that each person gets, so that total assistance can be reviewed for abuse.
I don't really have a problem with poor people having a phone on the government's dime as long as long distance can't be abused. Cell phones are now cheaper than land lines. And how do you get a job without a phone? What are we talking about $10/month? And I haven't heard of a program that fixes cars free.
I suspect her "Sisters of Social Service" is just a gathering place for feminist lesbian Marxists.
That must be a state thing. It definitely isn't true in my state.
“I suspect her “Sisters of Social Service” is just a gathering place for feminist lesbian Marxists.”
You hit the nail on the head. The good news is that Simone is one of the younger members of that “community.” They get extremely few new recruits and are rapidly dying out. Last one out, turn off the lights.
*Although if one had five kids or more, yes, the family would qualify with a gross income of $60,000. But no relation to mother’s age, at least in my state.
The Catholic church has long had some liberal strands. They love illegals for instance and have been way too friendly to gay child molesters.
Of course, $60,000 now and then are two real different quantities.
I'm going to look beyond the big 2. I don't want to waste my vote by giving a mandate to someone who ignores your point.
In fact, she's apparently abandoning the Catholic Faith.
You hardly make your point very clear by doing the same.
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