A few weeks ago, Alaska Sen. Mark Begich argued that the federal budget “isn’t just a bunch of numbers on a sheet or paper. The budget is a moral document.”

Do you agree? Are government budgets moral documents? How should our morals and values guide our political decisions about budget cuts and deficits?

Budgets are moral statements.  Even closer to home, our check books are reflections of the values we have based on the investments we make.  Budget cuts reflect the other side of the ledger. If we choose to not fund something that has been funded in the past, we are making a statement about where that particular potential investment has landed on our personal or corporate priority list.  This may not be a bad thing when we decide to no longer fund as in the past.  Nor might this decision be a reflection on the importance of the program that we, for whatever reason, have chosen to no longer fund.  Yet, our budgets and our spending are clearly reflections about what we value either individually or as a group.  Sometimes the best thing a group can do is no longer fund a program or person in order to set the program or persons hired to run the program free to grow in ways that our institutions cannot, at this time,  support for any number of reasons.

I think of such great ministries as Bridges in Memphis.  It used to be an institution of the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee.  It had another name (Youth Services), and that ministry was appropriate for its day.  However, Bridges mission has been modified over the years to meet new circumstances.  Is it a worthwhile ministry?  You can bet on it! While honoring its roots in the Youth Services era, it has moved forward in new and effective ways in the work it does with young people.  Does the fact that it is no longer an institute of the Diocese of West Tennessee mean that we don’t value it?  Not at all. In fact, many of us as Episcopalians continue to support this valued ministry. However, we made a decision years ago to let it have its own life and develop in its own way.

The result is clear.  Bridges has evolved into a ministry needing space to become what it has become today. Had it stayed with the Diocese, I do not believe it would be as strong, vibrant and creative as it has become.  Budgets and check books are moral statements. However, the decision to no longer support a program or person who has in the past been supported is not really about whether that program or person is of value.  It is a decision that reflects changing times, new opportunities, and mission alignment for the new day in which the decision is made.

A few weeks ago, Alaska Sen. Mark Begich argued that the federal budget “isn’t just a bunch of numbers on a sheet or paper. The budget is a moral document.”

Do you agree? Are government budgets moral documents? How should our morals and values guide our political decisions about budget cuts and deficits?

Are government budgets moral documents? Hmmmm…
Two sayings which many of our parents loved repeating come
to mind:

• Actions speak louder than words.
• Put your money where your mouth is.

Of course budgets are moral documents! Regardless of what we
might say that we value, budgets tell us what we are actually going to do, where we are putting our money.

Consequently, budgets tell us what we really value.
In so doing, they paint a picture of our communal moral landscape.

Here’s an example. Politicians (and others, of course) love
to talk about “doing what’s right for our children.” Just recall some of the slogans that have been paraded before us like “Children First,” or “No Child Left Behind,” not to mention all those references to “family values.”  An outsider could hear or read those slogans and conclude that we really take care of our children. Until she or he looked at our budgets where the entities which serve children—like education,
departments of children and family services, Headstart, TennCare, daycare regulators, etc.—are consistently underfunded

The reality is children, and those who attend to them, have
little political power. Poor children have virtually none. So politicians
attend to them when those with political power have been cared for first. Children, especially poor children, get the leftovers. We’ll never see “Political Power First” as a campaign slogan, but it seems to me to be political reality. And it speaks volumes about our moral landscape, about what is really valued by politicians and those who vote them into office.

I fear that what it’s saying isn’t pretty.

Are government budgets moral documents? How should our morals and values guide our political decisions about budget cuts and deficits?

Once upon a time, a few years ago, I worked at a prominent ministry in the city of Memphis.  One of the most strenuous meetings I ever attended regarding the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.  The question I raised (which I have discovered is not unique to any one ministry) was, “Does the ministry drive the budget or does the budget drive the ministry?”  My perplexity to this conundrum has not been alleviated to this day.

We live in a capitalistic society.  Often times “mammon” takes precedent over ministerial and moral efforts and ideas.  But there is always something telling about where we focus our resources; it speaks to our hearts.  Jesus once said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  I think it is telling of the heart of our city, that much of our focus is on how to bring revenue into the city in conjunction with corporate expansion and special interests.  Not much of our economic and political equity is geared towards liberating and empowering the least of these — even though these people make up the work force that sustain the other efforts.

I do not seek to offer microwave solutions to our crock-pot problems.  The balancing of budgetary matters in a way that would reflect an appreciation for matters of higher moral interest is taxing (pun intended).  We must still take into account the legitimate challenges of fiscal necessities and responsibilities.  This requires long, tedious, heart wrenching work and time.  But our morality is expressed in how we allocate our resources.

God calls us to stewardship.  I am not sure if we can be good stewards if our only concern is how we can make more, do more and get more.  At some point we must wrestle with the greed that permeates our economic, political and even religious ethos.  As teachers are being laid off, public services and servants are on the chopping block, business enterprises (both non-profit & for profit) are seizing the day and the poverty in our midst is expanding, we ought to reflect on where our treasure is in respect to our heart.  I pray the gap is minimal and the goals are moral.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…”

Matt. 6:21 (NRSV)