Howdy:
I want to go on the record and say that, on a selfish level, I personally wish I could take all my money going into Social Security and put it in a private account.
From a simple, personal point of view, I wish I could take that big chunk of change and put it into an account that I can manage. I believe I can do a better job than the federal government in managing for my retirement. I realize this carries an amount of risk, but I am happy with the risk, and I can handle it.
So, since this is what I would prefer for my own self-interest, I must be for the privatization of Social Security, right?
Wrong. And I believe this is a key difference between progressives and conservatives.
Supposedly at the core of modern conservatism is this idea of "rugged individualism", but I believe this philosophical core is nothing more than a kind of rampant selfishness and NIMBY-ism.
Too often in conservative circles I hear this idea of "I need this, therefore, everyone needs this". This is most prominently on display with religious fundamentalism.
But we all need to remember, and I think progressives remember this best of all, that self-interest, even benign self-interest, does not always translate to public self-interest. Just because I believe I can do better with my Social Security money doesn't mean I should force everyone else to take the same chance.
In the world of public policy, public self-interest should always trump personal self-interest, and that is why I am against the privatization of social security.