Cross posted from Blue Arkansas .
Tim Griffin has been having “conversations” with the members of his district of late. To be fair, it’s not an actual conversation. He’s not working so much on a two way street here. Instead, Griffin has managed to redefine the word “conversation” to mean that he talks and you listen. You see, Mr. Griffin is making a sales pitch, and what he’s selling we really don’t want to buy, and that’s cuts to Social Security. Don’t take my word for it. Blue Arkansas writer Blue Bob was there at the last “conversation” and taking notes , and now it’s very clear that Griffin has decided his legacy in Congress will be to accomplish what his old bosses, Karl Rove and George Bush, failed to do.
As Bob wrote:
Rightly so, he acknowledged that cutting discretionary spending would not fix the budget, saying that the problem lies in “entitlements.” Mr. Griffin called for “Bold Solutions, not minor adjustments” to fix the problem. One example of this he offered might be to establish line in the sand for Social Security benefits: If you are older than say 55, you get all your benefits, if you are younger than that age, well you are out of luck. A Bold Solution indeed. He figured that he would likely be below age limit for benefits, and seemed to imply if could accept it, so should others.
First, I should say it’s interesting that Mr. Griffin is taking this route as, during the campaign, he said on his website that he was opposed to raising the retirement age.
Secondly, there’s something Griffin isn’t telling his audiences in these conversations and it’s that Social Security doesn’t contribute one damn dime to the deficit.
Social Security is self funded system that is fully supported through dedicated payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA).
Currently Social Security brings in more money than it spends. Therefore, Social Security is financially sound and secure.
Griffin is of course telling a familiar Republican lie in order to target the most successful government program in the history of the nation. Don’t be fooled. It’s the same rhetoric we saw from Rove and Bush in 2005 when they were attempting to privatize Social Security. They try to assure seniors that it won’t impact their benefits. They try to insist that there is a crisis and that this is the only way forward. Thing is, as Bob pointed out, Griffin won’t even talk about the real reason for the deficit.
What was most disturbing was Mr. Griffin’s complete rejection of Tax increases policy as part of the strategy to balance the budget. He brushed off the ideal that cutting taxes adds to the deficit, saying when taxes are higher, politicians just spend more. He added that historically cutting taxes don’t create deficits
And he’s of course full of shit. The Bush Tax cuts to the wealthy created the deficit and are still the largest contributors to it. Remember?
Griffin doesn’t give a rat’s rear end about the deficit. If he did, he’d be going after the real cause of it rather than targeting Social Security, which doesn’t add a penny to it and is in fact running fine. This is about the Republican desire to destroy the program that has lifted millions of senior citizens out of dire poverty and given hope to countless Americans. Mr. Griffin of course lied on the campaign trail about his willingness to protect the program and now is lying again to advance cuts in the program. Considering his record this is no surprise; we know of course by now that he’s a dishonest man. Arkansas Democrats need to stop handling him with kiddy gloves. Yes he’s Karl Rove’s protege and that means he’ll have some political skill to bring to the table. But you know what? Going after Social Security didn’t work for Bush and Rove. It’s not going to work for Griffin either if we stand up to him now.