I read a lot of crap in the newspapers and online, but if I tried to respond to all of it, I wouldn't have a life. You know the feeling?
But one of my Firefox tabs is always set to Google News, and I always click on it just to see what's there.
So it was that this morning a link entitled "Is Dubya D.C.'s only adult?" caught my eye.
I clicked on the link and was treated to an egregious example of mendacity perpetrated by one Debra Saunders. It repeated all the tired old Bush talking points on Social Security.
So, being the good little blog activist that I am, I responded with this letter to the editor:
Editor:
I sympathize with newspaper publishers. To compete for advertising dollars, they must attract the widest possible readership. It forces them to extreme lengths in seeking "balance," that they hope will represent all segments of society.
Unfortunately, sometimes that means representing the views of liars and morons. Thus we get Debra Saunders, who calls Social Security "something for nothing" and a "free lunch," as if we weren't taxed to support it after earning money through our labor. Don't like free lunches? Bring back the inheritance tax. In fact, double the sucker. There goes your Social Security phony crisis.
Saunders lies again by saying the Democrats "still have no plan, and they still aren't leveling with the American voter." There is a plan. It's four words long: "No cap, no problem." And guess what, Debra, we already have private accounts. They're called IRAs, and they're voluntary. I bet you have one.
The system will not "go bankrupt" for 75 years, and probably not then, if the economy grows apace, fueled by an influx of legal immigration. Just because Debra Saunders is a gullible, shameless damn fool doesn't mean the rest of us are.
--
Ivan
We have hashed over Social Security ad infinitum and ad nauseam, but we can't let up, because the Bushies aren't letting up.
We can't say "well, we've debunked that; time to move on," because they aren't. They think we will suffer intellectual burnout, and we have to show them we won't.
Remember one thing. The Bushies want private accounts because private accounts would relieve employers of paying their share of an individual's Social Security contribution. That is 50 percent of it. This point needs to be driven home again and again.
Saunders calls Social Security a "free lunch," as if we don't wotk for it. Bush's "private accounts" would in fact be a free lunch for business, as if they hadn't gotten enough already.
Well, I wrote my letter. Y'all have a nice day now.