Feb 4, 2013

Serious, Bold And Brave But Also Crazy

     From Alex Parteene writing for Salon:
Despite the staggering popularity and undeniable success of Social Security, a lot of political figures are obsessed with killing it. Some people want Social Security ended for honest ideological reasons, but most of the loudest voices in favor of “reforming” the program wish to do so because it would make them or their friends a lot of money by effectively forcing all Americans to gamble their retirements on the fluctuations of the giant Wall Street casino.
There’s also this common Washington thing where if a certain proposal is hugely unpopular with everyone in the country besides a tiny wealthy elite, supporting that proposal is considered “serious” and “bold” and “brave.” So despite it being a horrible and unpopular idea, proposals to weaken or effectively eliminate Social Security come up all the time in discussions of “the deficit.”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just because an idea is unpopular, doesn't mean it is wrong. Politicians are elected to make the RIGHT decision, not the popular one.

We may disagree on what is right, but we shouldn't let the issue of popularity act as a smokescreen.

Anonymous said...

Actually, politicians are elected to carry out the will of the people. They are NOT elected to carry out policies their constituents oppose. They are out elected representatives, it's their job to represent the views of the people that put them in office.