Hands Off Social Security

PITTSBURGH, Penn. — Americans are talking, marching, storming congressional offices, petitioning, conducting town hall meetings and writing letters to save Social Security. Beneath the radar of headline news, the people have lit up the “third rail” of U.S. politics, Social Security, and Republicans and Democrats are both feeling the charge.

Determined to have their voices heard, 150 student government presidents signed a nonpartisan letter calling on Congress and the White House to protect Social Security. Representing hundreds of thousands of college students from all 50 states, the student leaders urged officials to consider the stake the younger generation has in defending Social Security.

Most Americans do not read The New York Times. But ideas expressed by its columnists make their way into mainstream discussions. Recently, two columnists weighed in with arguments related to Social Security.

Three years before President Franklin Roosevelt enacted Social Security, the Communist Party issued a pamphlet saying: “Social insurance is a system of government support to give workers financial assistance, thus affording them a measure of security in case of accident, sickness, death of the wage earner, unemployment, child bearing, or dependent old age. ... The fight for social insurance must go on because it is a fight for security in the daily struggle for existence faced by every member of the working class.”

DALLAS, ALBUQUERQUE, AND CLEVELAND: 'Hands Off Social Security'

WASHINGTON — Defenders of Social Security charged this week that a “means test” on Social Security as proposed by President George W. Bush would inflict huge benefit cuts for 70 percent of recipients, clearing the way to destroy the system vital to Americans’ economic security.

WASHINGTON — Thousands cheered at a Capitol Hill rally April 26 as lawmakers and leaders of labor, retirees, women, youth of color and the disabled vowed “no compromise” in the battle to block President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security.

When the hawk advises the chicken that its eggs are better off in the hawk’s nest, it makes sense to be suspicious.
Perhaps with that proverb in mind, NAACP chairman Julian Bond and other African American leaders kicked off a nationwide lobbying initiative and cross-country campaign against President Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security.

Calling Social Security “the most profound and effective program in our history,” Congresswoman Diane Watson (D-Calif.) told an April 2 town hall meeting sponsored by the California Alliance of Retired Americans (CARA) that “with Social Security we weave together a safety net that guarantees our independence and economic security.” Watson pointed out that the investment firms pre-selected to participate in President Bush’s privatization scheme were his largest campaign contributors. “These Wall Street sharks will charge anywhere from 15 to 20 percent to ‘manage’ private accounts,” she warned, resulting in benefit cuts and loss of disability and survivors’ benefits.

WASHINGTON — President George W. Bush’s Social Security road show ran off the road last week and he can’t seem to get it back on track. The uproar was unleashed April 5, when he cast doubts on the creditworthiness of the federal government.