Paul Ryan discovers compassion

[Bob Of Burleson]

Paul Ryan’s anti-poverty plan so bipartisan
it doesn’t sound like he’s running in 2016

By Melinda Henneberger
The Washington Post

Would the anti-poverty plan outlined by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday really put the compassion back in the party that sprinted away from George W. Bush’s compassionate conservatism? Maybe, even if Ryan has until now been better known for slashing social programs.

After spending time listening to people living in poverty over the past year, his tone and rhetoric have certainly changed. Not so long ago, Ryan spoke out against turning our safety net into a hammock and called the pope’s economic views uninformed. But in Thursday’s speech at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, he made a point of saying he wanted to hear “constructive criticism — ha! — constructive criticism’’ from the left as well as the right.

“I want to talk about how we can repair the safety net,” he said, even positing that we can’t have a healthy economy unless that net is strong. And if you’re seated, look at this: “What the federal government can do better,’’ he said, “is provide resources” that can then be tailored on the state and local level to each person’s individual needs. He also talked up prison reform that would cut sentences and improve vocational training for non-violent offenders to “let people earn a second chance.”

Of course, Ryan’s role is changing, too; his term chairing the House Budget Committee is expiring, and he’s likely to become chair of the Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax policy and entitlement programs.

But he’s also “gotten less partisan and more knowledgeable,’’ in the view of John Carr, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University. “You can’t spend time with poor people without appreciating that they want to work.’’

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[Red Oak]

Compassion - Spending other people's money on your tribe.

[ann jusko]

I certainly hope he re-thinks that proposal. All I can tell from his explanation is that he thinks non-profits can work hand in hand with government entities. Oh yeah! That'll work. Get ready for a lot more taxpayer money coming out of our wallets.