I’m about to make two of the most obvious statements you will read today: Before there were laws, there were no laws. Before things became illegal, they were legal. So common sense, they’re stupid, right? Well, not so much to the people defending Mitt Romney, his tax structure and Bain Capital “vulture capitalism.” This morning on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked about the criticism of Republican’s (presumably Romney’s) finances. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) had this to say:
“We need to defend the morality of the free enterprise system and upward mobility. We need to defend the morality of a system in American that says you are free to take risks, to make money, to create jobs and to do it however you want to so long as it’s legal. That’s something we should be proud of.”
Here’s the video:
This is an argument I hear often. “Romney’s not breaking any laws, so shut up,” or something like that. With what I know now, I can’t argue that Romney has broken the law, but that’s not the point. The very fact that Romney’s not breaking any laws is precisely the point. Romney, whether or not he becomes President, is in the economic bracket that makes the laws. Thanks to our Supreme Court, with some help from Congress, money is speech, ergo, he who has the most money has the loudest voice. The Romneys of the world can hire lobbyists. You and I cannot. The Romneys of the world can donate vast amounts of money to political campaigns. You and I cannot. The Romneys of the world can hire people to literally write bills and donate to the Congressmembers who will sponsor them. You and I cannot.
Morality is not determined by legality. Legality is determined by morality and justice (yes, we do legislate morality…all the time). As American citizens, it is our job to question the laws that are currently in place and not blindly accept that because something is currently not illegal, it is good. The flip side of that coin is that it is our job to pressure lawmakers to take laws off that books that are unjust, for example, many of the drug laws.
Paul Ryan is a lawmaker. It is his job to try to correct injustices. The fact that Mitt Romney pays less than 14% in taxes is legal, but it is unjust. The fact that Bain Capital killed off thousands of jobs to appease a few shareholders is legal, but it is unjust. To sit back and shrug his shoulders and say, “It’s moral cause it’s legal,” is both a copout and proof that Ryan is not doing the job that the taxpayers pay him to do.
“…and to do it however you want to so long as it’s legal.”
But isn’t this basically the libertarian argument? And if Paul Ryan is embracing the concept of do whatever you want, as long as you don’t infringe upon the rights of others…then can’t that same logic/argument be used to justify gay rights/marriage? Doesn’t that argument just make the libertarian point that drugs should be legal, gay rights should be universal, prostitution should be legal, and so on and so on.
Doesn’t Ryan’s argument INVALIDATE that of all of the Christian Right who feel that morality trumps laws, and that we should use the law to enforce morality?
I wonder how many evangelicals know that the philosophy of Ayn Rand (Paul Ryan’s messiah)is the teachings of Christ turned on their heads? How many know that Paul Ryan is Ayn Rand’s number one disciple. How many realize that supporting the current crop of Republicans is to disavow the very roots of Christian morality? But then, many if not most of evangelical TV ministers are themselves in pursuit of wealth in a manner that Ayn Rand, who believed that altruism is immoral, would endorse enthusiastically. How many evangelicals know that Ayn Rand was an atheist?
Willard Romney can wear his religiosity on his cuff until the cows come home. Ultimately, however, his moral paramaters are determined by what he can get away with and what he can’t. Regardless of the effect his ‘success in the private sector’, has on the lives of people, if there is enough money in it, Romney always manages to find a way to deal with it.
This is the modern way for the GOP to justify rapacious business practices. Ayn Rand’s philosophy of greed, which Paul Ryan worships, was her way of providing a moral justification for greed. The Randians feel completely justified by this and also know that many of the people they woo have no idea who Rand even was. They have lured many Christians into following a philosophy opposite to that of Christ, because most Christians have never heard of Rand. All they know is the GOP rhetoric on wedge issues and trust the Ryans and Becks to tell them making money in any way possible is all moral.