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Politics : Al Gore vs George Bush: the moderate's perspective -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (5172)	11/8/2000 12:47:01 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10042

No... in this election it is important to end the gridlock and make some structural changes that much overdue. Then we can return to gridlock... Geez, Ron, you're even more of an cockeyed optimist than I am! Surely you don't think the "system" can overcome its obstacles and come together for one magic moment to "fix" social security. Social security already had one magic moment a while back when the powers-that-be fixed the financing to get us through 2030 something. More than one magic moment is a bit much to hope for. Statesmanship is even harder to come by now than it was then. Social security is unsound in concept--a Federal Ponzi scheme. So we're stuck with a much loved emperor who has no clothes. Until we admit it, we can't fix it. And the pols can't admit it because the voters would get hysterical. Everyone I've spoken to in my dad's retirement community thinks that their social security checks are interest on the money they paid in. If you try to tell them otherwise, they think you must have arrived either in a black helicopter or from Russia. The nice thing about gridlock is that they can't screw things up any more. The voodoo "fixes" proposed by the two leading candidates would make things worse. We're faced with the ignorance and fear of the voters, the inertia of a national myth, and the inherent transition problems of any critical system change. Lotsa luck! Fixing social security would take either extraordinary statesmanship or a miracle, or both. The probability of that occurring at this moment in time in this political environment are slim to none. I suggest we embrace the gridlock, encourage our leaders to pay off the current debt, and save for own retirement and a rainy day, as is our responsibility. Karen