De l’audace, encore de l’audace, toujours de l’audace!
I was just on the radio talking Social Security with John Fund of The Wall Street Journal editorial page and opened with the elementary point that conservatives have never liked Social Security. They opposed its creation in the 1930s, campaigned for its abolition in 1964, and after the 1983 deal launched a “Leninist Strategy” (their words, not mine) to destroy it, the fruits of which we’re seeing today. Understanding this point is absolutely essential to understanding what’s happening in Washington, DC this year. There’s a debate going on that has nothing to do with Social Security’s finances and everything to do with Social Security — should it be preserved or should it be abolished and replaced with something else?
Fund replied that no, no, no, “I like the concept of Social Security” he just wants to improve and “modernize” it. Then during the next back-and-forth he called it a “Ponzi scheme.” Doesn’t sound like the sort of thing a person who likes the idea of Social Security would say, does it? Of course not. Sadly, the Journal isn’t available on Lexis-Nexis so I can’t go to the archives and seek definitive proof that its editorial page does not, in fact, like the idea of Social Security one bit, but if any readers have access to documentation of the point and want to write in with relevant excerpts I’d be interested in reading them.
