My mom, an embattled liberal who retired to Chapel Hill NC sent me this:
"Robert Seymour, pastor emeritus of Binkley Baptist Church in Chapel Hill, NC wrote the following for 'Village Voices' on 5/9/2005:"
Budget fails test of morality
Few things are quite so revealing of the values people hold than a look at their canceled checks. The same thing can be said about the budget of the federal government. It is a moral document for it reveals what we value most.
For example, in the faith tradition of every major world religion, a primary value is placed upon taking care of the poor; but the new budget presented to Congress shows a dramatic difference between what this administration says and what it does.
More below the fold...
Tax cuts for the rich will remain in place while money for services to the poor will be slashed. Although the level of poverty in America is steadily rising, the budget takes funding from nearly every program that benefits those who are most in need.
Proposed cuts in food stamps will deprive 300,000 people of enough to eat. Because of reductions for child-care, hundreds of thousands of children will not have adequate supervision while both parents work. Reducing money for housing will evict people with disabilities with no place to go. Supplemental nutrition programs will be denied to more than half a million pregnant women.
It was inexcusably contradictory for the president to call a special session of Congress in an attempt to save the life of Terri Schiavo while at the same time advocating trimming Medicaid (which had helped pay for her care) of $10 billion over the next five years. Why is Congress not equally concerned about countless other Americans who are living on the edge and who need life support?
A commitment to moral values might more appropriately prompt a special session of Congress to address the shameful presence of wide-spread poverty in this highly affluent nation. As Bush himself said,"We have a responsibility that when somebody hurts, government has got to move." And he said repeatedly,"We should always err on the side of life."
Evidence convinces that this administration is tilted toward the rich with little compassion for the poor. Big Money and corporate pressure rule in Washington. Although we hear pious talk about moral values, we tolerate a
health-care system that is making an idol of the business ethic and forgetting that health care for everyone is a moral mandate.
You may protest that the president's faith-based initiative of providing funds for social services administered by religious groups will close the gap from the budget cutbacks of federal programs. Such financial grants have been miniscule in light of the need. Could this be the first move towards chipping away at social justice programs paid for by the government in the mistaken belief that charity from churches, synagogues and mosques will eventually prove sufficient to do the job alone? It is a frightening prospect towards privatizing government responsibilities for the poor.
Policies are so blatantly shaped to the advantage of the wealthy that even middle class Americans are beginning to be alarmed and are threatened by financial insecurity. The new bankruptcy bill is a case in point. It favors the credit card companies at the expense of working Americans. It allows banks to squeeze consumers who are in desperate straits while doing nothing to regulate the exorbitant gouging of skyrocketing interest rates slapped on people in arrears. Those who have suffered a major medical emergency, a job loss or a divorce are the most frequent victims. Typically, the rich receive protection while the destitute are exploited.
Franklin Roosevelt one said,"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
The federal budget fails the test.
How true. This is a testament of what true "Christian values" are all about.