A Fundamental Lack of Seriousness

Many who have looked at the Ryan plan think that it is insane gobbledygook with the sole purpose of ruining workers and enriching the rich. As Balloon Juice has documented, Andrew Sullivan isn't one of these folks largely because he isn't particularly bright. Recently, Sullivan argued concerning health care and the "inability" of giving it to all is

  where my Christian-informed conscience rears its benign head. As a human being, I find it extremely hard to deny another human being the ability and means to cure their sickness, if it is available.

Leaving aside the fact that to be human is not the same as being Christian, Sullivan ignores the Christian solution to the problem of scarcity and unequal distribution. John the Baptist told

 the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ⁹ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
 ¹⁰ “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
 ¹¹ John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
 ¹² Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
 ¹³ “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
 ¹⁴ Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
   He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

The argument here is pretty straight forward. You want to be saved? Take care of your fellow men and women and stop engaging in greedy behavior.

Christ was as explicit:

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

So if his "christian-informed conscience" really is rearing "its benign head" his concern ought not to be the political or economic difficulties associated with the equitable distribution of the things of this world but rather the vital necessity of the equitable distribution of the things of this world. To argue that worldly matters make it impossible to be a Christian is to admit that he isn't a Christian. Christianity isn't a noun; it's a verb. See also.