Let’s Privatize Social Security Now

The libertarian right is all for privatizing Social Security and making it optional.  On the face of it, it’s an idea I could get behind in a big way. 

Of course, when talking about America and Social Security, you’ve got to begin by defining your terms. 

In the rest of the world “social security” (capitalized or not) refers to all government programs for the common welfare, from medical care to free public education, to unemployment insurance and retirement pension and all the way through to death benefits. 

In the United States, “Social Security” means the self- and employer-funded retirement fund that pays money for Grandma and Gramps to live on, and funds Medicare so they can have at least basic medical care as they age and need it more.

While privatizing using the American definition would undoubtedly please the libertarians no end, I can’t help but think that going with the world definition would send them into (quiet, restrained, lady- and gentleman-like) orgasms of delight. 

I say let’s make their wildest dreams come true and privatize the whole thing and make it all optional.

Let’s spin off not just Social Security/Medicare, but also health, education, and welfare into private, not-for-profit cooperatives, governed by a board of directors elected by and responsible to the membership at large and prohibited from making any speculative use of funds.  Then let’s make participation optional.

For the time being, the IRS will serve as the the collecting agency for the voluntary taxes paid by those who opt in.  We’ll see how that goes.  But that will be the only role of any Federal agency in the operation of the coop(s).

Rather than Congress dictating the budget and how the money is spent, those decisions will be made cooperatively, with Anything Really Important (including the “tax” rate) determined by a vote of the membership.

Lots of details to work out, but as I said, on the face of it, it looks damned good to me.

As for those who opt out?  Give them a check for what they’ve paid into Social Security to date, minus any benefits they’ve received.  Let them make their own decisions regarding providing for themselves and their families.  And to remove any punitive aspects from the decision making process, allow anyone outside a coop to buy (back) into it for the equivalent of  back taxes.  I’m sure that some libertarian entrepreneur will set up a private insurance company to protect against that eventuality. 

This plan achieves two very desirable goals:  1) It takes control of essential human services away from a Congress which over the last two years has demonstrated that it’s incapable even of tying its own shoes, and 2) It takes the money to run those services out of the U.S. Treasury, so that when our government ceases to function, there’s at least a chance that those services might continue.

Feel free to discuss.  I say we go for it.

Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off

UPDATED BELOW

The American Civil War was about a whole lot more than slavery. 

While the issue of slavery provided strong motivation for both the North and the South in the war of southern secession, at stake was what kind of nation the United States would be.

The northern industrialists wanted the entire “American” portion of the North American Continent to be one country in which Important Decisions were made for the whole country by one central (Federal) government composed of  representatives from each state. (Top Down)

The southern agriculturists wanted independence from America in order to form their own country in which Important Decisions would be made on the local (state) level, with a central  government whose authority required a unanimous agreement of all the autonomous Confederate(d) states.  (Bottom Up)

Morally, the Good Guys won.  Slavery was a horrible institution which will forever be a blot on America’s history.  But from a practical point of view, it’s unfortunate that the winners weren’t also the guys who were advocating for a Confederacy. 

The story of America since that war—and particularly since WWII—has made it abundantly clear that the federal, top down, republic of Jefferson et al does not scale up well—certainly not to its current size, and most likely not even to the original thirteen states over time.

There are bunches o’ natural factors that determine the optimum number of people and the size of the geographic area that can be united behind a government empowered to make Important Decisions. In growing to fill all the available land mass, the USA has defiantly flown in the face of those natural laws, to the point where continuation in its present form is no longer sustainable.

As we watch America follow the same path of denial as the former Soviet Union, falling apart from the inside out, let’s remember that it’s within our power to stop it anytime we can amass the public will to do so.

It is within the power of the people to call a Constitutional Convention and start again from scratch.  It’s scary to contemplate, but it might be the only way to avert the bloodshed that’s otherwise inevitable. 

Are we adult enough yet as a culture to do that before the country falls apart completely?  Time will tell. 

For more information on the movement to call for Constitutional Convention, see http://www.callaconvention.org/, and read Lawrence Lessig’s “A Call for a Constitutional Convention” in Huffington Post.

UPDATE:  See also http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-lessig/neoprogressives_b_704715.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=090310&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FeatureMore#, and although I’m no huge fan of the Coffee Party http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/coffee-party-national-convention/.  And finally, thanks to reader Bill Walker for providing this link in comments:  http://www.foavc.org

Death Watch

From today’s Think Progress email:

A new Newsweek poll has found that a majority of Republicans believe President Obama "sympathizes with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world." Only 33 percent of Republicans said the "allegation" was "probably not true," while 38 percent said it was probably true and 14 percent said it was "definitely true."

And the death watch continues . . . .

Superstition and stuff

I’m always thinking, and seldom focusing (ADD), but there’s been a theme to my recent ponderings having to do with the underlying differences between agnostics and true believers—beyond their obvious tolerance and intolerance of ambiguity. 

In the process it occurred to me that the whole Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition is founded on the conviction that there is indeed a supernatural being which created the universe and which—at least insofar as its relationship with the human race is concerned—is an unmitigated asshole. 

The supernaturalists talk a lot about their faith, but if faith is the absence of fear, I’ve gotta wonder where the greater faith lies:  with those who are convinced that there is a god who’s an asshole, or those who are betting that if there is indeed a god, she/he/it is not an asshole?

Just sayin’ . . . .

This Sucks

This past week, our bickering children in Washington failed to pass either the “Disclose Act” or the incredibly popular plan to aid the multitude of emergency response workers and volunteers who are now experiencing devastating health problems as a result of their rescue work in the wake of the destruction of the World Trade Center.

Posturing for power and control is more important to our “government” than solving problems.

I suppose that even the collapse of America has a bright side.  If we don’t bring down the whole human race with us in the process, perhaps the survivors will finally have learned that unbridled capitalism (“The Market” to Republicans and libertarians) is a fine social model for animal life in the jungle, but it sucks for human beings.

The ability to reason and form social contracts that elevate the quality of life for all of us (the common good) is kinda what distinguishes humans from other animals.

The doing of this by a society or culture is more or less what we’re talking about when we use the word “civilization.”

We judge the success and quality of a civilization or culture on how successful they’ve been in forming these social contracts and raising the quality of life for all.

So in a crisis where it is absolutely essential that America repair our social contract, why are so many working so hard to obstruct the repair and even dismantle it?

How about if all the progressives in both political parties were to join Bernie Sanders in the Social Democrats and leave the other two parties to the corporatists who run them.  They have proven themselves to be totally irrelevant, and yet they still have the keys and are sitting in the driver’s seat.  Time for an alternative.