Bush and Social Security

Bush is on a 60 stop tour to promote his social security plan. I think I probably am about average on this one--in the middle.

Is there a problem with Social Security? I thought everyone thought there was a couple years ago. I feel like this is an issue that the vast majority of us are unqualified to decide--fallacy of improper authority. I don't care what Joe Average's opinion is on whether Social Security is on the fritz or not, because the truth is not democratic (fallacy of the appeal to the majority). Why does any old fool think he or she can comment authoritatively on the subject?

I have a saying I've developed but just haven't had the chance to use anywhere yet, so how about here: "The truth doesn't care." Truth doesn't care about me or you or our feelings. If something is true, then it's true. End of story. So whether or not Social Security is in trouble would seem to be something that would be easily answered by those who know the figures. That's what I hate about politics. It makes half of us think stupidly and the other half become deceitful about the truth. Somewhere in there are honest people, but it seems so hard to know who they are. I personally most trust individuals like John McCane and Colin Powell. I trust Bush Jr's intentions, but not his brain.

No doubt some of you reading this blog know a lot more about the figures than I do. I'm perfectly willing to believe that something needs to be done with Social Security. And it's a little like global warming. I'm not competent to tell whether or not global warming is taking place or not. But if it is, then I don't care who likes the concept and who dislikes it. If there's a problem, we need to solve it. How stupid to play political games with issues like these! Why does Joe average fight vehemently for one position or the other just because of the group they're in? There are stronger adjectives to describe this way of thinking, but since there might be children reading I'll refrain.

So I'm quite willing to see a need for reform sometime soon. Greenspahn is another person I trust both in intention and in brain, and he's thrown his hat in with the "problem" side.

But as I've written before, I don't trust Bush's brain and the brains of his advisors any further than I can throw them (I realize the metaphor doesn't work, but I couldn't think of anything else on the spot). The polls seem to show that the American populace feels the same way as I do deep down. Bush has long spent his "trust me, I'm President" capital, and he's now facing a second term when he doesn't have the blank check he had for so long after 9-11. Notice that the rest of the world now stands up to us as equals, where they used to feel more like they needed to go along with us.

Not that I'm saying his plan is bad. Maybe it's a great plan! I just don't know and I think the rest of America feels like I do--we just don't know. Do I want to trade the Devil I know for a Devil I don't know?

Personally, I've never thought of Social Security as something I would count on. The amounts are barely subsistence level as they are. I'm thankful to have a pretty good TIAA-Cref set up with the university--this is an incredibly good place to work when it comes to retirement, kudos to Barnes and the Trustees!! So I'm not counting on SS to do anything for me--I've almost written off that money.

But as a Christian, I'm thankful that the government is forcing me to support people like my wife's Aunt Ruth, who lives almost solely off of Social Security. I'm a failure at living out Jesus' example on social justice and I'm glad someone's making me be like Christ--ironically the non-Christian government. Did she earn that money I'm giving her? No, probably not. But I think a good social contract has back up systems for everyone within the contract. Would it be Christian for me to suggest she die because she's not able to do anything productive for society any more? Would I want society to do that to me after I'm infirm? It's not capitalistic, but it's Christian.

As a friend of mine commented the other day, It's spelled C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N. Learn to love it.