Time for leadership

Posted by: Good Samaritan
on April 14, 2005 @ 09:20 AM EST

I'm with Josh Marshall on this one-- almost.

[A] few of the ultras in the House have convinced themselves that it's actually good politics to vote on it, send it over to the senate, and if it dies there blame the Democrats.

"Some Senate conservatives privately agree with their House counterparts," writes Hallow, "that the Social Security debate has swirled out of control and that the situation is now playing into the hands of Democrats, who adamantly oppose partial privatization of Social Security. These conservatives say the only way to save the situation is for the House to pass a private-accounts bill and let the Democrats take the blame for blocking Senate passage."

Marshall says "Please do it."

The only problem is that (according to this Washington Times article) the House would probably "pass a bill based on large personal retirement accounts and no tax increases or cuts in benefits," and I think it's essential to deal with the solvency as well as the structure of the program, otherwise the bill will be justly open to charges of fiscal irresponsibility. If it were Lindsay Graham's, or Bob Bennett's, version of reform that House wanted to "jump ahead of the Senate" with, I'd cheer. MORE...

As for public opinion, the polls show plurality or majority support for diverting payroll taxes into private accounts, as I've argued before (and here and here). But you have to be careful how you interpret polls on this issue, because poll questions may ask people to choose between feasible and non-feasible alternatives, between reality and pie-in-the-sky (e.g. keep the traditional program with no benefits and no cuts). The number of people who trust the traditional program's promises is far smaller than the number who are open to partial privatization, that much is clear.

But the truth is, this issue is very complicated, and the vast majority of people don't understand it and never will. And it's not worth their while to try to understand it until a definite bill is on the table, with the Republican leadership standing behind it. There's a time to follow the polls and a time to provide leadership. This is a time for leadership.

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