Senate nominee Joe Miller (R-AK) thinks Social Security won’t last, and believes privatizing the entitlement program might be the only way to save it.
In an interview with John King late last week on CNN, Miller said there “has got to be a move outside of the system,” and said he’d want to see the federal government “transfer power back to the states so the states can take out the mantles of the programs if they so desire.”
Miler, 43, said he does not expect to see “much” of what he’s owed for Social Security when he retires. “Because the government has stolen from me,” he said.
King pushed Miller, who won a surprise primary victory to unseat Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) last month, to explain exactly what he meant. These aren’t comments most Republicans have been willing to make publicly after the failure of President George W. Bush’s privatization efforts in 2005 and 2006.
Miller said:
If it’s a privatized system, for example, I can ensure that I put my money into an account that the government is not going to steal from. … I think most Americans recognize that that system is broken and they understand that there has got to be a change longer term to bring back some fiscal sanity and to ensure that you can actually have something when you do retire rather than depend on these IOUs that when we go insolvent aren’t going to be worth much.
King asked, what about someone born in the next year? “Would that person perhaps grow up in an America where there is not a federal Social Security program if you got your way?”
Miller: “Absolutely. No demagoguery there at all.”
Watch the portion on Social Security:
Another thing Miller believes “absolutely”? That Sarah Palin is “a force to be reckoned with,” and he “absolutely will support her in her endeavors” should she run for president.
There has been very little polling of the general election matchup given Miller’s win, but he leads Democrat Scott McAdams in the last two polls.
