Bill White – 3/15/05

This page was last updated on March 17, 2005.

Social Security flurry; Bill White; Beaver County Times; March 15, 2005.

Mr. White has written anti-Bush letters since at least August 2004.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Once again, President Bush has latched on to a political hot ball and will not let go. The proposal is for Social Security to be largely altered, while details are still being worked out.”

[RWC] Socialist Security reform is not a new issue for President Bush. Mr. White seems to have forgotten that President Bush campaigned on this issue during the 2000 campaign and formed a bipartisan committee to study the issue a few months after he took office in 2001. The President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security issued its report on December 21, 2001.

“The president will be seen throughout the nation for the next two months lobbying for support - support for an idea in the planning stages; a plan in outline form only.

“The head of the GAO says, ‘Social Security does not face an immediate crisis.’”

[RWC] Assuming the quote is accurate, we still don’t know the context. I guess it depends on what you call an “immediate crisis.” I like the way Art Linkletter answered a question on this topic. Linkletter said, “If your doctor told you that the colonoscopy you just had revealed a small cancer which is going to kill you in 25 years, I’ll bet you’d consider yourself in crisis right now, wouldn’t you?”

“David Walker (Office of Comptroller General) suggests focus to improve financing, with less emphasis on private accounts.”

[RWC] These quotes are nice, but we elected President Bush, not the GAO or the Office of Comptroller General. We all have opinions.

Mr. White wants us to believe financing Socialist Security and personal accounts are two different things. They are not. Though personal accounts alone can’t address the built-in funding problems of Socialist Security (It’s a Ponzi scheme.), personal accounts should be an important part of any responsible solution.

“With opinion here and there, this program is worthy of bipartisan debate. Our country cannot afford a miscue of this magnitude.”

[RWC] As noted above, President Bush appointed the bipartisan President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security. A co-chairman was the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), Sen. Hillary Clinton’s immediate predecessor.

“Sen. Rick Santorum is out aping the president’s message; U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart is still behind a tree, watching to see where the wind blows.”

[RWC] Did you notice most socialists exhibit no class when criticizing their opponents? This tends to happen when you can’t debate the issues with logic and the truth.

“The country doesn’t need another take-it-or-leave it program enacted in the middle of the night. We must do better.”

[RWC] To which “take-it-or-leave-it program[s] enacted in the middle of the night” does Mr. White refer?