Truth - Al Franken [82]
As we contemplate basic reform of the Social Security system, we would do well to draw a few lessons from the Leninist strategy.
What was the “basic reform” that the neo-Leninists were advocating in the Cato journal? Well, in this article, they were supporting a plan devised by one Peter Ferrara. At its heart was an IRA-like “private pension plan.” A private pension that would replace Social Security once and for all.
Butler and Germanis’s Leninist blueprint would directly inform President Bush’s political strategy twenty-one years later. Let’s start with the “isolating and weakening” component.
Our reform strategy involves what one might crudely call guerrilla warfare against both the current Social Security system and the coalition that supports it.
And who would be in this coalition?
The sine qua non of any successful Social Security reform strategy must be an assurance to those already retired or nearing retirement that their benefits will be paid in full.
Why not pay everyone’s benefits in full, instead of just old people’s? What makes seniors so special?
From a purely political standpoint, it should be remembered that the elderly represent a very powerful and vocal interest group.
Oh. I’m catching on. The elderly are an interest group. And if you can buy them off, then you can isolate and weaken the young!
Any plan to change the system must therefore be neutral or (better still) clearly advantageous to senior citizens. By accepting this principle, we may succeed in neutralizing the most powerful element of the coalition that opposes structural reform.
Smart, right? Let’s fast forward to April 5, 2005. In the very speech where President George W. Bush denounced the filing cabinets holding the Social Security Trust Fund’s treasury bonds, he paused for a moment to address the concerns of an especially important segment of American society:
On my trips around this country I have made it as clear as I possibly can that the government will keep its promise to those who have retired or near retirement. And that’s very important for a lot of people to hear. I understand how important the Social Security check is to a lot of our citizens. A lot of people depend on that Social Security check.
In case that wasn’t crystal clear, the President laid it out as plainly as he could:
I’m here to tell you those who’ve retired are going to get their check. Those who are near retirement are going to get their check. (Applause.) The system will not change in any way for people who have been born prior to 1950. And I’m going to keep saying it over and over again.
On that final point, and that point alone, the President was as good as his word. He would repeat this at every fake town hall meeting, fake economic summit, and pre-scripted “Social Security Conversation” for the rest of the spring. He repeated it so much that even Bush, a man known for constantly repeating his talking points, felt the need to remark on the extent of the repetition. Here he is on May 24 just outside of Rochester, New York:
If you’ve retired, you don’t have anything to worry about—third time I’ve said that. (Laughter.) I’ll probably say it three more times. See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. (Applause.)
But as clever as they were, Stuart Butler, Peter Germanis, George W. Bush, and even Karl Rove were not as smart as Lenin. What Lenin might have told them is that people tend to divide along class lines rather than by generation. So while wealthy bankers might support Social Security privatization, the grandparents of regular working folks might not bite, even if they themselves were