Mitt Romney, the Mormon who is the likely Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States, has crafted a religiously unique election ticket by choosing Catholic congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate.
His vice-presidential choice is well-known for his pro-life advocacy and his conservative economic views.
Explaining his pro-life position, Ryan has said: “I cannot believe any official or citizen can still defend the notion that an unborn human being has no rights that an older person is bound to respect.”
As for his economic views, he was architect of a federal budget condemned by Catholic bishops as failing a “basic moral test” in that it slashed food assistance to the poor and radically redefined safety net programmes such as Medicare.
Ryan, 42, contended that the poor are hurt more by extreme levels of government debt than by budget reductions. He defended his fiscal positions against critics in a lecture at Jesuit-affiliated Georgetown University last April. He cited Catholic social teaching principles of subsidiarity and solidarity and charged that “government-centred” approaches to poverty have failed.
Paul Ryan has been criticised for the formative influence of the laissez-faire capitalist philosopher Ayn Rand on his economic outlook. However he has publicly renounced Ayn Rand’s philosophy. He said: “It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview.”
Introducing Ryan as his running mate, Romney declared: “Paul is in public life for all the right reasons — not to advance his personal ambitions but to advance the ideals of freedom and justice; and to increase opportunity and prosperity to people of every class and faith, every age and ethnic background. A faithful Catholic, Paul believes in the worth and dignity of every human life.”
Paul Ryan has signed the National Organization of Marriage’s pledge to defend marriage as a union of a man and a woman and to seek the appointment of judges who will defend marriage.
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Image: Daily Mail