Via this diary, I learned that Paul Ryan is now claiming that his philosophy is not inspired by Ayn Rand, but in fact by Thomas Aquinas.
The choice quote was:
I reject her philosophy [...] It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas [...] Don’t give me Ayn Rand.
Given this statement, and Ryan's central role in the GOP's budgetary thinking, one is led to wonder just how much the Christian values of St. Aquinas are reflected in the priorities of House Republicans.
Here is an example of those priorities, as told by Think Progress:
House GOP Would Kick 280,000 Children Off School Lunch Program To Protect Tax Cut For Millionaires
House Republicans recently proposed cuts to nutrition assistance that will kick 280,000 low-income children off automatic enrollment in the Free School Lunch and Breakfast Program. Those same kids and 1.5 million other people will also lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly food stamp benefits) that help them afford food at home.
Ten years’ worth of these nutrition cuts could be prevented for the price of one year of tax cuts on 3,340 multimillion dollar estates that House Republicans are protecting in their budget.
Contrast that with this quote:
Now, according to the natural order instituted by divine providence, material goods are provided for the satisfaction of human needs. Therefore the division and appropriation of property, which proceeds from human law, must not hinder the satisfaction of man's necessity from such goods. Equally, whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance. So Ambrosius says, and it is also to be found in the Decretum Graziani "The bread which you withhold belongs to the hungry; the clothing you shut away, to the naked; and the money you bury in the earth is the redemption and freedom of the penniless
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II-II, Q 66 A 7.
Do you think that St. Aquinas would approve of Ryan and his GOP colleagues?