Letters to the Editor - 2-10-05

Social Security is socialist program
The opposition to President George W. Bush's proposed changes to Social Security goes well beyond everyday partisan politics. It goes beyond the obstructionist stance that Democrats have become known for and beyond their hatred for Bush.

While all of those things enter in, the left in this country loves Social Security for two primary reasons: (1) It is a prime tool for redistributing wealth, and (2) it nurtures dependency on government like no other program we have.

Individual accounts would cause people to become more involved and ultimately more responsible for their own lives. At the same time, they would change Social Security from a wealth-redistribution system to a wealth-accumulation system. Personal responsibility and wealth accumulation. What could be worse in the mind of liberals?

Social Security is a socialist program. Its previous success can be attributed to the fact that it has been financed by a strong capitalist economy, and contributors have greatly out numbered recipients. That ratio is going to change in the next few decades, a fact no one disputes.

Why wait 'till it's a crisis? Why not fix it now?

The president has offered several options and is open to new ideas. If we leave it to the left wing that dominates the Democratic Party leadership, it will fix it the old-fashioned way, by raising taxes.

Ross L. Downey
Park Hills, Mo.

...

I appreciated Eric Mink's perspective on Gov. Blunt's spending cuts that
gave the shaft to the elderly, ill, disabled and the working poor. What galls me is that many of the people who voted for Blunt were well-meaning but deluded Christians who espouse "family values." William Sloane Coffin, the great United Church of Christ pastor, civil rights activist and social justice advocate, wrote the following in his recent book "Credo": "It's ironic to think of the number of people in this country who pray for the poor and needy on Sunday and spend the rest of the week complaining that the government is doing something about them."

Esther Talbot Fenning
St. Charles

>> Source Editorials [St. Louis Post Dispatch]