Survival of the Fittest

(" A Cruel Budget")

The latest Paul Ryan plan and the voices that support it, serve as companion to the arguments made before the Supreme Court this week. Those opposing the health care law seek to define liberty as the right of the young and the healthy to abandon their duty, even if able, to help insure adequate care for the weak, the sick and the poor. So too, the Republican endorsed budget gives the wealthy no mandate to protect the welfare of the less fortunate.

The question posed in both of these arenas is whether government can and must advocate for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as a very tangible benefit given to as many of its citizens as possible. Mr. Ryan's budget is void of these concepts and merely attempts to pile on to the miseries of the underclass. There is nothing redeeming in legislation that would slash benefits which provide even a shred of hope and dignity to those who struggle.

I fear a world in which the Supreme Court and the Congress translate the obligation to protect fundamental rights to be synonymous merely with survival of the fittest