The Time Has Come

The time has come… the undecided voter has to get off the fence or stay home.  My wish is that if you haven’t decided by know you are not informed enough to make a responsible choice and I urge you to stay home!   But most have made a decision as I have and here it is and why.

 I will be voting for George W. Bush.  To confess, I would probably vote for the Republican in most cases anyway but as one that puts his views on public display in black and white and under scrutiny I will make a rationale for my vote. 

There are several reasons for my vote.  But the real defining one is the difference in handling the Social Security issue.  Presidential candidates have avoided doing anything about this issue because it is the easiest to demagogue and or the quickest way to a violent electoral demise.  That is the reason the system heads merrily on toward a train wreck.  Most have taken the easy way out, do nothing and just assure everybody that you are going to “save” Social Security. 

Vice President Gore votes for the train wreck and the easy way to get votes.  His idea on how to “save” Social Security is to throw more money at the problem.  More water in the leaky bucket rather than fix the leaks!  This satisfies the seniors and the younger voters really do not understand that their future is being stolen from them.  Mr. Gore is definitely NOT fighting for them!    It has worked for years and if it works again this time you will see it again as we merrily celebrate on the train headed for disaster.  I have indicated that some seniors are more interested in next month’s check than their grandchildren future, but they deserve more that being jerked around and scared every election cycle. 

Governor Bush at least has had the courage to propose a start toward reform, a reform that could work.  A slow steady plan to almost completely privatize the system over a period of 20 years would be very good.  At the end of the 20 years most of the Social Security tax would be going into a private account and a small amount for the safety net for the needy.  This would take the issue of the table for politicians.  All would control their retirement money and not depend on the whim of an election.  Seniors would be assured of their check and the young working families could look to a much brighter retirement than is now the case.  Oh, the argument is that some would benefit more, some would get less because of the ups and downs of the market.  Sure, the current system assures that same return for all… Fair but pitifully small.  There is the example of the Galveston city workers and their opting for a private retirement system.  A typical worker retiring from a $36,000 per year job gets about the same from his retirement system. Seniors…Do you get a $3,000 check every month? 

It is so easy to say, as Gore does, “Bush drains a trillion dollars out of Social Security”.  Sure he does, but he also takes trillions out of the payout as the increased private returns kick in.  The Vice President is going to take money out of the surplus to shore up Social Security.  This plan needs a vibrant economy.  If we have a vibrant economy we will have a vibrant stock market.  But Mr. Gore says the marketplace is too risky.  Good market, bad market… a private system will do better than funneling the money through the government!  The vice President just postpones the problem… and preserves the issue to use again next time.  With Mr. Gore the issue is important… not the solution! 

So we have one candidate willing to tackle the problem.  We have one that sucks the problem for votes.  We have one willing to touching the “third rail” of politics and try to solve it.  We have one trying to turn on the electricity and avoid the problem.

So we have two very different approaches, two different choices.  Money can solve a problem when the money flows.  It is time to solve the problem so that we don’t worry about whether or not the economy bubbles or hiccups.  Mr. Bush has said he can bring the country together to a solution.  Let’s give him a try, the previous administration and Mr. Gore has not even tried. 

Our young people and our seniors deserve better than they have gotten so far.