The Democrats should run on Social Security

Katrina Vanden Heuvel
WashPost

If Democrats really want to rally their base and win over voters who are either on the fence or thinking of sitting this midterm election out, they'd be smart to start talking Social Security.

You won’t find a lack of enthusiasm at the grassroots when it comes to protecting a program that for 75 years has lifted millions out of poverty and provided dignity for the elderly and for other vulnerable Americans.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has noted that Social Security provides the majority of income for two-thirds of the elderly population, and one-third receive nearly all of their income from it. And let's be clear: despite all the right-wing and neoliberal rhetoric, it isn't going bankrupt. According to the Congressional Budget Office, if no changes were made to Social Security it would still be able to provide full benefits to every recipient until 2039, and approximately 80 percent of benefits thereafter.

So it's stunningly bad politics and bad policy that at this moment -- with record poverty and economic inequality, and a shrinking middle-class -- Republicans and ConservaDems are looking to slash benefits under the guise of deficit reduction. It’s quite possible they will vote on a plan -- via the White House National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform -- to do just that in a lame duck session of Congress come December.

(More here.)