Faith leaders gather around Trump to pray in Oval Office: 'incredible day'

FireDragon76 said:

The sin of Sodom was neglect of the poor and abuse of foreigners. Which party has a reputation for cutting social services to needy people, advocating tax cuts for the wealthy, and locking up immigrants?

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Not taking political sides here, I completely see your point.
My question is: where do fiscal responsibility and caring for the needy intersect?

There’s no denying that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer in America. At the same time, it's also true that our current social safety net isn’t financially sustainable long-term. It's a gross oversimplification to say, "Just tax the wealthy." That may be part of a solution, but it's not the whole picture, and if we're not careful, we risk helping to the point of collapsing the very systems meant to provide support. Then no one gets help.

So how do we come together, across party lines and perspectives, to strike a balance between wise stewardship and compassion for the vulnerable? That seems like the real challenge, and one worth approaching with humility and cooperation.

Jermayn said:

Not taking political sides here, I completely see your point.
My question is: where do fiscal responsibility and caring for the needy intersect?

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Obviously governments have to have sound economic policies. However, many American conservatives are dishonest in promoting their economic policies, and only choose to support policies according to an ideology that ultimately is a fig leaf to cover exploitation of working people and creating more wealth primarily for those that engage in rent seeking and other non-productive, exploitative economic activity.

Jermayn said:

There’s no denying that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer in America. At the same time, it's also true that our current social safety net isn’t financially sustainable long-term.

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That's not really true. Raising the cap on Social Security payroll taxes would be a straightforward solution to ensure the long-term viability of the Social Security trust fund. It's currently capped at 150,000 dollars.

Jermayn said:

It's a gross oversimplification to say, "Just tax the wealthy." That may be part of a solution, but it's not the whole picture, and if we're not careful, we risk helping to the point of collapsing the very systems meant to provide support.

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Not really. Higher taxes on the wealthy could help to fight inflation in many ways. Wealthy people use their additional wealth to buy up additional assets, which makes things like housing prices and rent more expensive- that's inflation.

Jermayn said:

So how do we come together, across party lines and perspectives, to strike a balance between wise stewardship and compassion for the vulnerable? That seems like the real challenge, and one worth approaching with humility and cooperation.

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You are potentially misunderstanding this as primarily about "compassion", this is about economic justice and the long-term health of the United States as a republic. It's not just homeless people that are suffering under the current American laissez-faire system, it's the vast majority of Americans. The first serious injury of our current system is to our democratic ideals, since large amounts of money in the hands of too few leads to many opportunities for corruption and rent-seeking behaviors, as we see in our current political and economic order, instead of wise use of tax dollars into genuinely productive investments that would benefit society as a whole.

FireDragon76 said:

Obviously governments have to have sound economic policies. However, many American conservatives are dishonest in promoting their economic policies, and only choose to support policies according to an ideology that ultimately is a fig leaf to cover exploitation of working people and creating more wealth primarily for those that engage in rent seeking and other non-productive, exploitative economic activity.



That's not really true. Raising the cap on Social Security payroll taxes would be a straightforward solution to ensure the long-term viability of the Social Security trust fund. It's currently capped at 150,000 dollars.



Not really. Higher taxes on the wealthy could help to fight inflation in many ways. Wealthy people use their additional wealth to buy up additional assets, which makes things like housing prices and rent more expensive- that's inflation.



You are potentially misunderstanding this as primarily about "compassion", this is about economic justice and the long-term health of the United States as a republic. It's not just homeless people that are suffering under the current American laissez-faire system, it's the vast majority of Americans. The first serious injury of our current system is to our democratic ideals, since large amounts of money in the hands of too few leads to many opportunities for corruption and rent-seeking behaviors, as we see in our current political and economic order, instead of wise use of tax dollars into genuinely productive investments that would benefit society as a whole.

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Thank you for the detailed response. I’ll be the first to admit that economics isn’t my area of expertise, so I’ll leave some of those policy specifics to others who are more informed. I'd genuinely be interested in hearing perspectives from different sides of the aisle on this.

On the issue of compassion, I didn’t mean to suggest that it’s the primary concern of only one political group. I fully agree that compassion is one component of a much broader framework of economic justice. My earlier comment was more in response to the broader tone of the thread, specifically, the idea that one political party reflects the teachings of Jesus more closely than the other when it comes to caring for the poor.