[ed.note: The following is a guest post from our correspondent on the scene at this weekend’s Social Security shredding rally on Capitol Hill. Asheesh Kapur Siddique is a student at Princeton University and was one of the organizers of the recent Filibuster against Frist effort.]
This past weekend, the Washington, DC area played host to the College Republican National Committee’s annual convention, and as TPM reported, a group called Fix Our Future capitalized on the presence of so many aspiring Ronald Reagans by staging a pro-privatization rally attended by about 50-60 people. Intermittently chanting “stop the raid; I want my PRA,” the crowd of (mostly) students listened to speakers not too much older than themselves crisis-monger about the state of Social Security, and call for an intergenerational war against AARP-loving seniors conspiring to “rip us off.”
As a blues band jammed before the spectacle began, I chatted with some of the young attendees over warm, though complementary, sodas (it was a blistering 95 degrees, and they didn’t have any ice). Wearing a pink shirt emblazoned with the word “HERO” under a black-and-white image of President Bush, Kasie from Utah told me that by the time she retires, “not only is there going to be $0, it’s going to be in the negative.” The solution, Nathaniel from Virginia advised, is private accounts, because “they allow us to give ourselves a chance to stand outside of government.” They all seemed completely sold on the idea that Social Security must be ‘saved,’ and that privatization is the only way to do so.
The highlight of the rally came when participants formed a conga line in front of seven paper shredders. Dancing to the wails of the musicians’ electric guitars, they shredded fake (and a few real) social security statements to express their dislike for the program. I snapped some pictures. As a participant in some recent political theater myself, I’ve got to compliment the privatizers on creatively expressing their message. But I didn’t come away sold on their scheme to gut social security; indeed, I’m more determined than ever to defend a program that’s helped so many of our seniors retire with dignity.
