The speech I'd like to see Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi deliver: Fifty years ago, a great Republican declared, “Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security….you would not hear of that party again.” We have come before you because today’s Republican party, hijacked by the radical right and beholden to Wall Street special interests, has set out to do just that. We are here today as leaders of the Democratic Party to make absolutely clear our position on their plan to kill social security by a thousand cuts. We will not allow social security to be sold off to the highest bidder on our watch. It is not a get rich quick scheme for a lucky few. It is a sacred compact from one generation to the next. It enshrines a core principle of our shared American Dream: That a lifetime of hard work, even if your job is none too glamorous, even though you may be no market wizard, deserves retirement with full dignity and financial security. The American people would no sooner stake this economic security on the ebb and flow of the Dow than we would our very national security. We will not compromise the freedom of Americans who have devoted a lifetime to building this country to spend the final chapter of their lives enjoying a measure of the great prosperity of this blessed nation. It is this economic freedom – the freedom made possible with a roof over one’s head, food on one’s table, and life-saving medication – which the President’s party would ransom off in the name of free enterprise. They have not set their sights on social security because it is imperiled, but because it is successful. They are fanning the flames of fear not because social security is unpopular, but rather because it is, rightly, the most popular government program of our time. It is a shining testament to the power of the American social contract to improve the lives of all our citizens. At a time of record deficit spending, social security is running a surplus which, with no change at all, can pay promised benefits for the next half century. Even after that point, an increase in spending by the wealthiest Americans, who today pay a smaller percentage of their income than their employees into the system – an increase dwarfed by the tax cuts President Bush paid out to the wealthiest Americans – will keep the system in the black into the next century. Social security should be celebrated, not assailed; strengthened, not eroded; and sustained, not degraded. It is the President’s party, practicing the politics of cynicism and cronyism, which would pit the oldest and youngest members of our society against each other and tell us there is not enough prosperity to lift up both. The American people know better. Social security, through the hard work of the American worker, will provide the benefits promised to our parents, and to our children, and to all of us as well. We reject any plan which curtails benefits to the workers of today or of tomorrow. We reject any plan which would saddle our shared economy now or in the future with unsustainable debt. We will oppose any attempt to weaken social security with every political resource at our disposal, knowing that there is none stronger than the overwhelming will of the American people. We will stand united in telling those who peddle privatization, be they on Wall Street or in the White House: Our futures are not yours to gamble. You will not narrow the margins of our dreams.
12/20/2004
About Me
- Name: Josh Eidelson
- Location: Sacramento, California, United States
Josh Eidelson received his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Political Science from Yale University, where he helped lead the Undergraduate Organizing Committee. He has written about local and national politics as an opinion columnist for the Yale DailyNews, a research fellow for Talking Points Media, and a contributor to CampusProgress.org. Views expressed here are solely his own. Contact: "jeidelson" at "gmail" dot com.
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5 Comments:
Did you write this, Josh? It's really good, and I don't mean to imply that you didn't, but I want to give it proper attribution as I spread it around. Thanks for posting this at dKos.
claude
Yeah, I wrote it. Thanks much for the support.
Two things about the Ike quote. One, you skipped the _best_ part. Two, he didn't "declare" it, it was in a letter.
Ike writing to his reactionary brother Edgar, May 2nd, 1956
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws, and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again, in our political history.
"There is a tiny splinter group that believes you can do these
things, among them are H.L. Hunt, a few Texas oil millionaires,
and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas.
"Their numbers are negligible, and they are stupid."
H.L. Hunt was the first Texas Oil Billionaire. His children (grandchildren?) are still operating, one on the board of CSIS, for example.
I, personally, love the bit where Ike calls them stupid.
To be fair, however, I'm not entirely sure he didn't mean to say "They are stupid for even trying, in the current context, since they won't succeed." Since the Reagan front-man Republican system has been in place, meaningless pap served out by smiling-faced morons has made it quite possible to acheive Hunt's dreams.
Of course, other maniacal billionaires, Scaife, Coors, Smith-Richardson, Olin, Bradley, have joined to help create Monarchy's cousin, Plutocracy, here in America.
Another important point, always overlooked by the Mainly Stupid Media, is something I read attributed to the recently deceased Rep. Matsui of California.
"Problems with the Social Security system are manageable and not as dire as in 1983, said Matsui, who was a member of a commission established by then-President Ronald Reagan to recommend ways to close the funding gap."
Tax rate for the top bracket drops from 70+% to 26% (1981)and the long term outlook for social security gets weak. Massive tax cuts for the rich (2001,2002,2003,2004) result in the long term outlook for Social Security being weak.
Sign the petition to stop social security privatization, increase the minimum wage,and repeal the faulty Republican prescription drug benefit and replace it with a simple 80 percent coverage of medication under Medicare Part B.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/progressive
Sign the petition to demand a revote in Ohio and Florida
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/Revote
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