A Boston Tea Party …(The End of a Dinosaur)

Millions of years ago dinosaurs ruled the earth. Changes to the earth eventually took place and dinosaurs became extinct. A political dinosaur is inching closer to extinction but not without a fight. The political winds of change are pushing Social Security, as we have known it for the last 60 years to extermination. Democrats are going to do what ever is necessary to hang on to this out-dated relic. There are two main reasons why Democrats hope to stop the President from reforming Social Security.

In politics it is almost always the case that a politician will come down on the side of a vote that offers him the most political capital. When politicians vote they often place their political futures ahead of what is best for the country. This should be obvious to everyone. If you believe this then one must look at the motivation for a certain political stance a politician is taking. If you understand what our Congressmen do with Social Security funds their motivation becomes undeniable. Today Social Security receipts are greater than disbursements, as has been the case over the last 60 years. This extra cash is not sitting in a vault somewhere but has instead been used to fund the exorbitant amount of entitlements Congress has doled out in order to guarantee reelection. If Americans are allowed to redirect some of that money to closely regulated private accounts, as President Bush has proposed, less money will be available for Congress to spend. Less entitlement programs mean riskier reelection chances. Congress would then be forced to raise taxes to keep entitlements at current levels or would have to cut spending, again politically risky alternatives.

The same argument can be made for the transition costs of changing to private accounts. To pay for the transition Congressmen are going to have to face the difficult choice between raising taxes or cutting spending. Either choice is bound to piss-off some constituency. Speaking of constituencies, senior citizens are the bread and butter of the Democratic Party. If the problems of Social Security were suddenly solved the Democrats would lose part of their base voters. They no longer would be able to scare senior citizens into voting for them. If they are not voting Democratic then logic says they vote Republican. It is then understandable why Democrats will be screaming and scheming all throughout the Social Security debate to prevent reforms from taking place.

I find if funny when I hear that why would we want to mess with a law that has done so much good for so many people over time. I am reminded of a story I was told when visiting Hoover Dam recently. Hoover Dam is 30 miles outside of Las Vegas yet provides Las Vegas with only 1% of its electricity. Why? Well, in the 1930’s the mayor of Las Vegas was asked to sign a contract that locked in the amount of electricity he wanted from the newly constructed dam. He said Las Vegas would never grow larger than it was at that time and therefore only required enough electricity to support 6,000 people. He could not predict the future and there is no way the politicians that wrote the Social Security law could predict the baby boom nor that families of today would consist of 1.7 people. Simple math dictates that changes must be made to the system. It is time to bring the Social Security system into the 21st century. There is no reason this dinosaur should live any longer.