Third Rail Now Broken?
December 23, 2000
In an op-ed distributed by the Scripps Howard News Service, Art Linkletter,
a noted radio and TV personality for more than 50 years and spokesman for United
Seniors Association, speculates that the fear Social Security reform once
held for American politicians may finally be leaving them:
For more than a generation, Social Security was the so-called "third rail
of American politics" - any politician who dared "touch" Social Security would
be politically dead. So powerful was this "third rail" that most candidates
for federal office, Democrat or Republican, loudly vowed, "I won't touch Social
Security." Core Democrat constituencies counted on the fact that the third rail
would be unbroken, and used it to pummel the GOP. But now it has been broken,
win or lose, by Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
Social Security remarkably turned out to be one of the highest-profile issues
of the presidential campaign, and it was one of the few issues discussed with
clarity and in detail. Bush, as most Americans now know, campaigned to allow
younger workers to set aside a portion of their Social Security taxes in private
accounts that would be owned by individuals; older workers and retirees would
see no changes. Vice President Al Gore vociferously opposed the idea, and vowed
to leave the existing program exactly as it is but create yet another IRA-type
account for some, but not all, workers.
Despite weeks of high-volume attacks on the Bush plan, on Election Day exit
polls showed that 57 percent of voters supported Bush's vision of individually
controlled Social Security accounts. Even more remarkably, more than one-third
of those who said they voted for Gore also supported individual accounts.
Opposition to individual accounts was one of the core issues of the Gore campaign
and of the Democratic congressional campaigns nationally. It would stand to
reason that the most vocal congressional proponents of partial privatization
of Social Security would have at least had a close brush with defeat. Not so.
Several were re-elected by wide margins. In fact, some analysts believe there
is now a pro-privatization majority on Capitol Hill. In short, as pollster John
Zogby notes, "The third rail has been broken."
Should seniors be worried about this? No! The Bush proposal - and similar
serious proposals in Congress - would leave benefits intact for today's seniors
and those too close to retirement to make other plans. That has been the model
in every nation that has privatized a Social Security-like system. The model
works.
In fact, seniors should enthusiastically support real Social Security reform,
for one simple reason: Real reform that includes individually owned accounts
will leave America a better place.
For today's young workers, Social Security simply is a raw deal.
They can expect a return of less than 1 percent on their Social Security taxes.
For minorities, whose life expectancies tend to be shorter, it's an even worse
deal.
Who are we, now enjoying the fruits of a system paid for by today's workers,
to say they shouldn't have a chance to do better? Who are we to deny minority
Americans the ability to accumulate real wealth that can be passed from generation
to generation? Yet that's what "third rail" politics did for far too long.
Whoever ultimately is declared the victor in the presidential election, Social
Security no longer is a "third rail" of politics. The time for a serious attempt
at reform has arrived. Policymakers owe it to America's young and old alike
to get on with it.
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