Not that I want to jump on the bandwagon of talking about Social Security Reform, but I had a dream last night to reform the social security system.
First, we have to get the President and Congress to agree that Social Security is a matter of national security--which it is--sort of.
Once delcared that Social Security is a national security problem that demands secrecy in it proceedings, you go and get 25 people, lock them in a hotel, make them work 12 hours a day and talk to each other every day. This group of 25 people will have six monhts to come up with a plan that they will present as a group. They will work in secret (like the Framers did in Philadelphia). They will have access to any an all data that can be found by the Library of Congress, experts and people.
the end product a plan, produced without all the grandstanding and partisan politics. The proposal they issue will be signed by everyone--no partisan labels, no majority, no minority but a panel of 25 experts.
The plan goes to Congress for an up or down vote. No amendments, no debate, just a yeah or nay. If the plan fails, send the group of 25 back for a few more weeks. Then another up or down vote.
That is my dream--but it will probably stay just that--a dream.
The fact of the matter is that we are not going to be able to generate reform anytime in the near future because there will be too much posturing and pandering. Furthermore there are not enough people in Congres that have the balls to stand up and say, passing this legislation is more important than getting re-elected.
This is the case whenever there is something difficult to do. Not enough members of Congress remember that they are representatives elected to make the tough decision and that sometimes you have to say to your constituents this is one of those things that we have to do, like it or not, re-elect me or not-but this is what I'm going to do.
But alas, balls and spines are a rare commodity in politics.
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