An Argument, presented as a series of premises.
- Social Security is a promise. It is a promise initiated by the greatest Democratic President in history, Franklin D. Roosevelt amidst the worst economic calamity in American history, the Great Depression. It is a promise that one generation makes to another.
- Republicans hate Social Security. This hatred is in their DNA. They did everything possible to stop it in the late 1930's. They've been trying to figure out a way to bring it down since. They problem they have? It works, and people like it.
- George W. Bush thinks he has a way to bring it down. It's a brilliant strategy, because it doesn't involve opposing the idea of Social Security. The idea, as with his bogus take down of Medicare, is to complicate it, muddy it up, add layers and layers of half-baked, privitized, Republican-donor Pork chaos into it, and then let it crash. This destroys the system, and gives the Republicans "cover" -- "See, we TOLD you it was unworkable!"
- Bush will do what he always does -- as he did with the tax cuts, Medicare, etc. He will demand a series of deceptively-titled ("Ownership Society"), temporary measures designed to get the fox into the henhouse. These measures will be jiggered so that the maximum chaos will be put off until 2007 or later. Some sort of nonsense "sunset clause" (as with tax cuts) may be a part of it, to lessen the horrible budgetary consequences. Speaking of horrible budgetary consequences, these will be shoved "off budget" through transparent gimmickry.
- Bush, DeLay and their cohorts will put on a full-court press -- the full Wurlitzer -- designed to show how "reasonable" the President is being in trying to alleviate this "crisis" with this "reform" -- if only those "minority obstructionists" weren't stopping him.
Okay, here's the gist of my argument -- THIS IS THE ALAMO FOR DEMOCRATS. IF THEY FOLD ON THIS -- IF THEY APPROVE EVEN ONE BOGUS "PRIVATE ACCOUNT" MEASURE TRYING TO BE REASONABLE -- IT'S OVER FOR THE PARTY.
If the Democrats won't defend Social Security -- a popular program NOT in crisis mode beloved by the base -- what do they stand for?
Now is the time to FIGHT. Here's what I suggest.
- THE BUDGET DEFICIT IS A CRISIS -- SOCIAL SECURITY IS NOT. Demand President Bush and the "Drunken Sailor" GOP get the budget deficit under control. Re-introduce the Balanced Budget Amendment. This is a genuine crisis. Why are we wasting time on something that solvent through 2043?
- YOU'LL MESS WITH SOCIAL SECURITY OVER OUR DEAD BODIES. No compromise. No surrender. No finessing. If that makes the Democrats "obstructionists," so be it. (This conversation should always refer back to #1 above -- what about the deficit?
- NO ACCOUNTING GIMMICKS ANY MORE -- The ONLY way the Bushies are going to be able to squeak this through is by putting it "off budget." Democrats need to stand up and demand that the Bushies use the kind of bookkeeping that average American families use. They really need to show the decadence and corruption of this system, because it's sure to horrify average Americans, and esp. what remains of actual conservatives.
The key part of this plan is the "sword in the sand." It would be FAR BETTER to lose on this issue -- let Bush mess with Social Security on a straight party line vote -- than to let him (to use Grover Norquist's gentle term) "date rape" the Democrats as he did with "No Child Left Behind" and the Medicare bill.
If the Democrats wont' stand up for Social Security, turn out the lights, the party's over.