Michael Stafford has an excellent new article in which he writes that “our nation is marred by growing inequality, constricting opportunity, and declining social mobility- it has become a place where record-setting corporate profits do not translate to increased compensation for workers or even enough jobs for our legions of unemployed.” He makes a key point connecting economic and political inequality, arguing “the former inevitably leads to the latter as wealth becomes heavily concentrated and gains influence that it uses to secure additional advantages.”

We are living in the midst of a second Gilded Age, desperately in need of a new Progressive Era to overturn plutocracy, repair the broken infrastructure of government, and transform both political parties by diminishing the influence of wealthy elites.

Of course, it would be absurd to argue that both parties are equally at fault for the failures we are witnessing. While the Democratic Party has often been feckless when it comes time to defend the poor and has been distracted by pursuing the libertarian social policies favored by elites rather than securing the economic needs of the middle class, the GOP has actively pursued policies to redistribute money into the hands of those who are already wealthy.

Despite their recent PR campaign undertaken to alter their image as heartless plutocrats by claiming to be the real anti-poverty party, they continue to push policies strongly opposed by the US Catholic Bishops, which reflect over a century of Church teaching. Republicans are fighting tooth-and-nail to cut food stamps and eliminate emergency unemployment benefits. One Republican candidate even compared being on food stamps to slavery in a bizarre and deranged rant that reflects the bizarre, deranged ideology that has increasingly displaced actual fiscal conservatism and prudence in the Republican Party. They claim they want to reward hard work and eliminate dependency, but are fighting an increase in the minimum wage that would reward hard-working people and make them less dependent on others.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski has explained why the minimum wage should be raised:

Low wages that do not allow workers to earn enough to pay rent at the end of the month and to put enough food on the table for their kids leads to what the pope has also called “an economy of exclusion,” stunting the lives of the poor for lack of opportunity.

Work, which Blessed John Paul II called “probably the essential key to the whole social question,” to be worthy of man must afford work “dignity” by allowing the worker to form and support a family.

For a worker to be dignified by his or her work, remuneration must be just.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that workers deserve just wages, wages that allow them and their families to fulfill material, social, cultural and spiritual needs.

The current state and federal minimum wages do not meet that standard. Those who toil to harvest our produce, to cook and serve our food, and to clean our buildings, are our brothers and sisters — and they deserve to enjoy the same dignity in work that others enjoy.

Why does the Republican Party take positions so contrary to Church teaching on economic issues? Part of it is ideological, as many hold fantastical beliefs about the free market, attributing to it powers that only belong to God. Another part is that Republicans were sent to Congress by wealthy elites to make policies that serve the private interests of these elites. Regardless of why they support plutocracy, the effects are clear and disturbing.

One of the most off-putting components of these efforts is that these political figures are not content to merely increase economic inequality and injustice, they feel the need to disparage the poor and middle class in the process as well. The social safety net that all non-rich people rely on for security is denigrated as a hammock for the lazy by people like Paul Ryan. There are around three people looking for every open job at the moment, yet Republicans continue to argue that the unemployed just aren’t motivated enough to find jobs, basically arguing they are too lazy to have the decency to provide for their families when they are perfectly capable of doing so. Finally, if those in need receive what belongs to them by way of justice, they are mocked as entitled and Republicans argue that the assistance corrupts their character and integrity. According to Catholic teaching, they are entitled to necessities like food. For those who respect human dignity, this is not a slur but an affirmation of reality and God’s laws.

These scurrilous attacks on the poor could not be more contrary to the message of Pope Francis. This is precisely the mentality he is challenging. To reject the Catholic understanding of human dignity is an exceptionally serious form of dissent, similar to rejecting the sanctity of life in advocating for abortion on demand. It contradicts not only the position of the Church, but the fundamental principles of the faith. It is beyond politics, an attack on our basic understanding of who we are as a people.

These Republicans in Congress and at Fox News point to isolated examples of abuse to justify their heartless, plutocratic policies and their denigrations of those in need. Jon Stewart revealed the rank hypocrisy by comparing their statements defending the rich to those that demonize the poor.

He sums up the ridiculous conclusions they seem to have drawn:

If it’s a policy that benefits the rich, then it doesn’t have to be paid for, should last forever and is good for America. But if it benefits the poor, we can’t afford it, should end it as soon as possible and it will destroy our nation from within. Because if you give money to people who don’t have it, it corrupts them. But if you give it to people who are already rich, they have a money immunity built up already.

America needs change at a fundamental level. It needs to purify its governmental institutions of the corrosive influence of concentrated wealth. A good place to look for advice is Pope Francis and the US Bishops, who are defending economic justice for all.

Plutocracy and the common good are irreconcilable enemies. Now is the time to fight for economic justice. Now is the time to side with the Church.