The Toomey Touch

October 15, 2002

The Wall Street Journal's Jason Riley writes that Rep. Pat Toomey (R-PA) has "made Social Security, along with tax cuts and fiscal restraint, conspicuous issues in his re-election bid. And yes, he's winning." To be sure, "It would be difficult for Mr. Toomey to avoid Social Security in any case. At 18 percent, Pennsylvania's over-65 population is second only to Florida's." Boldly, "Mr. Toomey has taken a chance in making retirement benefits such a salient campaign issue."

Precarious for Toomey is the fact that "Al Gore won the state, 51 percent to 46 percent" with mere talk of 'lock boxes' rather than a confrontation of Social Security's pending structural/demographic crisis. Which means, Riley says, "If a Social Security reformer can win here, he can win anywhere."

Pushing the issue, Toomey has stated that, "the demographics simply won't allow this program to go on in its current form for another generation, much less two or three generations." An advocate of "giving younger workers the freedom to take a portion of their payroll taxes and invest the money in government-regulated diversified funds", he complains that opponents are "just willing to sort of ride the current system into its bankruptcy in hopes that they've got a political issue."

He further responds to opponents and Democrats by noting, "Republicans were sworn in as a majority in 1995. It's been seven years now. Has anyone lost their Social Security check? Has anyone seen a cut in benefits?" He seems to believe that "that's why [Republicans] can talk about this and win. We've got nothing to be afraid of."

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