The Social Security Question

Just thought you'd like to hear my opinion about something I know nothing about. "So what's new?" the cynical among you might ask... But, see, I know even less about economics than I do about other things...

On the other hand, I do know a little bit about what to do when you don't know what you're talking about. Most importantly, go to the experts. Sadly, the experts seem divided. The most interesting bit of data I've seen on this so far is a poll of economists done by The Economist before the election. As I recall, the only one of Bush's economic proposals they rated higher than Kerry's was the plan for partial privatization of Social Security. The Economist seems a bit conservative to me, and I don't weigh this single piece of data very heavily, but it's something.

I have my doubts about privatization, of course. It seems that it will inevitably reward risk-takers at the expense of the more prudent, since risk takers who win will get richer, while those who lose will still have to be supported by the rest of us. But the extent of this will depend on the details of the plan I suppose.

My real point here is this:
As you know, I'm currently more sympathetic with the Democrats than the Republicans. (And I have a hunch that the Republicans' recent selling of what remained of their collective soul by purging the House ethics committee might make those sympathies unshakable well into the forseeable future). But according to some of my friends, I'm not at all a good Democrat. For example, I'm more than willing to listen to the arguments on both sides of the privatization debate, and to take the opinions of the majority of economists very seriously.

In a way, I'm more interested in the fact that, once again, the administration is deploying the big lie strategy in the service of a policy initiative. I recognize full well that one can promote a good policy with lies and bad arguments--but the use of such arguments should, I think, put us on alert. Is it that this administration has somehow forgotten how to tell the truth? Is it that they simply fail to respect us and/or democracy? Their actions during the election of 2000 were criminal and anti-democratic. Similarly many of their actions since then. As others have noted, their strategy in the current debate is much like their strategy in the build-up to the Iraq war: they are taking a genuine problem and blowing it out of all proportion.

I never thought I'd see anything as disgusting as Watergate again in my life. Then came Iran-Contra, something that was, if anything, even worse. I thought I'd never see the like of that again, but then came the virtual theft of the election of 2000. I think it was reasonable to think then that things would have to get better after that, but then came the Iraq debacle. It is hard for me to believe that a single president could have pulled off two of the most loathsome political scams of my life, but there it is. Given this track record, it is impossible to have any rational faith in the character or abilities of this president or his administration. Consequently, it is very difficult for me to view the Social Security issue in a dispassionate way.

This administration has fooled us twice already, and is now employing the same kinds of political and rhetorical strategies that they employed before. It seems that even the slowest learners among us should be getting suspicious by this point.