Democrats: Honesty Not Scare Tactics

By Tim Penny

Democrats recently began an advertising campaign on Christian radio stations attacking incumbent Republicans for their support of President Bush's effort to fix Social Security.

The advertisements fail on several levels.

First, they are untrue. They assert that the President's plan would undermine the stability of Social Security. To the contrary, the plan makes Social Security more secure than the current system, which can afford to pay younger workers less than three-quarters of the benefits it has promised. That sounds like a "risky scheme." The President's plan would establish an affordable safety net for low-income retirees while letting workers save a portion their payroll taxes in accounts controlled by them, where those funds can’t be “raided” by the government. That seems a more stable and reliable system to me.

Second, the advertisements claim the President's plan would cost $2 trillion. Maybe. Maybe not. There is no denying that during a transition period some up-front costs would be incurred, just as there are up-front costs if you save for retirement or repay a loan early. But remember, these are one-time costs to put the system permanently in the black. On the other hand, the unfunded liability of the current Social Security system is many times larger, and each year we delay Social Security reform we add about $600 billion to the system’s shortfalls. There are costs to reform, but they are far smaller than waiting until a crisis hits.

Third, Democrats have no credibility on Social Security. They spent the past year attacking the President while offering no alternative of their own. The result was another year lost where Social Security’s financing grew weaker. Now, they apparently believe they can frighten conservative Christians into voting Democrat to stop Bush's reform plan. More likely this will be seen for what it is - a campaign ploy.

I suggest that Democrats will have more electoral success if they do three things:

Start with the truth.
Be honest about the math.
And offer a credible reform plan of their own.

Conservative Christians - along with the rest of the electorate - deserve a serious debate about Social Security's future, not another campaign comprised of scare tactics and half truths.

Mr. Penny is former Democratic Congressman from Minnesota and served as a member of the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security.