On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 01:16:32 -0700, Trent Shipley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Thursday 2005-01-06 00:24, Gary Denton wrote:
<snip>
> > Why do you trust him with your money not to mention mine?
>
> Perhaps it depends on how much money you make or expect to make?
>
> I am simply working under the assumption that the GOP hated Social Security
> when it came in under the New Deal. A faction in the party has NEVER come to
> terms with Social Security. That faction is now in power in both houses and
> the White House.
Talking Points Memo Agrees with you and has evidence to back it up. Entire Post:
The key passage in the Wehner Memo (the leaked memo written by Karl
Rove's deputy, Peter H. Wehner and reported this evening in various
news outlets).
" Let me tell you first what our plans are in terms of sequencing
and political strategy. We will focus on Social Security immediately
in this new year. Our strategy will probably include speeches early
this month to establish an important premise: the current system is
heading for an iceberg. The notion that younger workers will receive
anything like the benefits they have been promised is fiction, unless
significant reforms are undertaken. We need to establish in the public
mind a key fiscal fact: right now we are on an unsustainable course.
That reality needs to be seared into the public consciousness; it is
the pre-condition to authentic reform. "
Remind you of anything?
Also included is a nice encapsulated history lesson: "For the first
time in six decades, the Social Security battle is one we can win --
and in doing so, we can help transform the political and philosophical
landscape of the country."
In other words, this isn't about the fiscal soundness of Social
Security or the babyboomers moving toward retirement or anything else.
As Wehner himself says, this is the best chance the opponents of
Social Security have had in six decades of trying to phase-out the
program.
And this allows us to see the whole matter clearly. Social Security
has been around for seventy years. How many people do you know who
really don't like Social Security? Back when I was younger I'd go
spend part of my summer at the subsidized retirement community where
my grandparents lived. And I don't remember many people who lived
there bad-mouthing Social Security. And those folks had lived under
the program for pretty much all of their adults lives.
Or, the more relevant question, how about people today? How many
people think Social Security is a bad thing? A program that never
should have existed? I'm not saying how many worry that the program
may not be there when they retire. How many people don't even like the
whole concept?
I think they're in a distinct minority.
So now you can see from memos emerging from the White House itself
that this isn't about 'saving' Social Security. If it were, what would
that sentence mean -- ("For the first time in six decades, the Social
Security battle is one we can win")? The first time in six decades
they can save it?
Clearly, this isn't about 'saving' Social Security. It is a battle to
end Social Security and replace with something that Wehner clearly
understands is very different, indeed the antithesis of Social
Security.
This entire debate is about ideology -- between people who believe in
the benefits Social Security has brought America in the last
three-quarters of a century and those who think it was a bad idea from
the start. There is an honest debate to have on this point, a values
debate. Only, the White House understands that the belief that Social
Security was always a bad program isn't widely shared by Americans. So
they have to wrap their effort in a package of lies, harnessing
Americans' desire to save Social Security in their own effort to
destroy it.
-- Josh Marshall
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_01_02.php#004346
Maybe it would simpler to ask Erik exactly how he feels about Soc.
Sec. instead of having him accuse me of being Eliza or putting up
straw men?
Gary Denton
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