A liberal - Jeffrey Sachs - has just published “The Price of Civilization” in which he calls for more federal government involvement in society to achieve a more equitable economy. I’m not concerned with debating his points here but with paying close attention to a review of the book by Congressman Paul Ryan, noted architect of the Republican budget this year and what his comments say about Ryan himself.
In his published comments Ryan said this about Sach’s view of society:
“Although the specific measures are hazy, the steps are clear: For people to be happy, their government must increasingly shield them from the challenges of life.”
Ryan may think of this as a straight forward recitation of the old expression: suck it up and do it yourself! But has he thought about what “life” means to him?
Does life mean pure organic life without government, without law - the law of the jungle? Does he want all laws and regulations to disappear? Of course not.
So does Ryan mean “life” as it is now, with the laws, economy, and government we have now? If so then why is he proposing this week to cut the federal budget by $1 trillion a year by eliminating the departments of commerce, interior, housing, education, and energy? He is clearly not happy with “life” as it is in the US this month. No, his idea of “life’ is what he’d like it to be after the conservative revolution - and then it must not change ever again!
Ryan is naive. He sees the “challenges of life” as competing in a fair free enterprise system. His failure here is not seeing that the rules of “life” have been shaped by things like tax codes which unfairly give huge breaks to those living on capital gains or dividends or hedge fund income. How corporations can treat you - mislead you, take advantage of you - is affected by laws, many of them written with a lot of input from - surprise - corporation lobbyists. The safety net - vital in the last 3 years - varies enormously from state to state. If you live in the wrong one you may be more likely to be homeless and hungry. Money available for students to attend college is constantly changing depending on political winds.
“Life”, Paul, is not a natural occurrence ; it is not people chasing butterflies in a field; it is the product of thousands of political decisions made by conservatives and liberals alike. You say Sachs wants the government to shield you from the challenges of life - but those challenges are greatly a product of government action or chosen inaction. It’s time to drop the simpleton conservative view of “life” and argue the issues on the merits.