There's a nice quote from Reid on one of the front page posts right now:
If Republicans want to trim Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, Reid said, they'd have to give on tax revenue in exchange. Asked specifically if the deal must be revenue for entitlements, he said: "Yes, and we call it mandatories."
Just a small suggestion, but this is something the progressive community should adopt. Mandatories. Entitlements are about the individual. Mandatories are about the fact that the wealthiest nation on earth - probably the wealthiest nation in the history of humanity - cannot let seniors starve and the poor die of easily preventable and treatable diseases.
We have a mandate. Whether from God (for those Abrahamic religionists) or from a sense or morality (for my co-humanists), we have a mandate to prevent unnecessary suffering and death. I don't support Social Security because I think anyone is entitled to such a thing - I support it because it seems inhumane for a nation such as the United States of America to not provide for the elderly.
There's another front page post at this moment, just slightly further down, that is headlined "Making people suffer is bad, whether in shutdown or via entitlement 'cuts.'"
Let's stop using their language. I'm not a huge fan of Harry Reid, but here he has it right - These programs are mandatories.