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June 08, 2005
I Support the President (Rant)
Audi Partem Alteram and I have debate this issue before. He seems to be smart and know the issues well. And yet the only thing that's consistent in his posts is his unfair criticism of the president and the reform proposals to date.
In his most recent post, APA argues:
The Democrats are not paying much of a political price for their refusal to consider private accounts for the simple reason that the public is not in favor of private accounts... The time has come to address solvency; we can seek to tackle private accounts at a later date.
And yet not so long ago he was arguing:
President Bush may have backed his party into a corner when he spoke on April 28th about progressive indexing (see article here). Without a fully developed plan to sell to the public, Congressional Republicans now face an unenviable task. As Howard Gleckman observes: "skittish Republicans must now defend major cuts in promised benefits."
Let's make something clear: addressing solvency means cutting benefits, (unless APA prefers to do through pure tax hikes). In that earlier post, APA approvingly quotes the Cato Institute saying:
[Republicans] are failing to draw on the rich populist themes of the dignity of ownership and the right to dispose of one's own earnings and savings that can win the political debate.
The Cato Institute, of course, was writing in favor of private accounts.
So when Bush tries to address solvency by cutting benefits, APA thinks he should only talk about private accounts. When Bush is talking about ownership, a.k.a. private accounts, APA thinks he should compromise and address solvency.
APA also raises every canard in the book. Take this post, for example:
I have argued consistently that many of our fellow citizens are risk averse, and that Social Security reform will not succeed until the issue of risk has been fully addressed.
The issue of risk has been addressed very well, already. There will be a safety net in place. Not only that, Bush is promising to keep every senior out of poverty, which the present system doesn't do. And whatever financial risk one incurs by investing in the stock market (not that much if one is investing for the long run) is nothing compared to the political risk associated with a government program that is gradually bankrupting itself, and in the meantime can be eliminated any time at the discretion of Congress. And the large majorities of young people who never expect to collect any benefits understand this perfectly well.
The Social Security debate so far can be summed up as follows: Republicans have staked out every reality-based position on the map. Democrats have retreated into stonewalling and denial. If you support raising the payroll cap, you're with the Republicans. If you support progressive indexation, you're a Republican. If you support carve-out private accounts, you're a Republican. If you support benefit cuts and not private accounts, you're a Republican.
If you're a Democrat, you'd better toe the party line, stick your fingers in your ears and sing show tunes. Except when you take a moment to impugn the motives of the Bush Administration and deliberately misrepresent every aspect of his proposals.
For the moment, this doesn't help us because voters aren't paying attention. But when the election nears and voters start looking into who's trying to solve the country's problems, the answer to that question will be clear: Republicans. If they're too dumb to figure that out, then they deserve what's coming to 'em as the program melts down. But we've got to put a little faith in people.
And we've got to keep our nerve.
There's something to be said for being "on message." It doesn't mean you're just a mindless dittohead. It means you understand that the Republican Party machine, with its eggheads and think-tankers and wonks on the one hand, its grassroots groups and lobbyists and Karl Roves on the other, is smarter than you. When you're inclined to disagree, give them the benefit of the doubt. It will make you smarter. If you get in the habit of criticize, criticize, criticize, your position will end up being inconsistent and uninspired.
Like Audi Partem Alteram's.
I've said my piece. But oh yes, one more thing. APA titles his last post: "Compromise, and move on."
Compromise? What compromise? Even in the article (by a Democrat!) APA links to, the "compromise" consists of nothing but tax hikes-- and even then it's very far from clear that enough Democrats to comprise a majority would vote for it, or that there wouldn't be a Republican revolt which would-- oh so rightly!-- sink it. So APA wants Bush to surrender not only private accounts but progressive indexation too, offer to fix Social Security through pure tax hikes, and still probably be rejected and humiliated by the Democrats!
You don't have to be some kind of Karl Rove to figure out that this is terrible, terrible advice!
Posted by Good Samaritan at June 8, 2005 08:30 AM
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