The midterm polls tell us that millions of Americans care not a whit about the slow death of democracy, that what apparently matters most is inflation (a global woe that’s far worse elsewhere). But if our imperiled institutional health truly takes a back seat to the status of our material wealth, should it not concern us – two weeks before the ’22 midterms – that the cult formerly known as the Republican party is jonesing to nuke the guaranteed income that millions of Americans count on in old age?
The cultists aren’t bothering to hide their intentions. Why the fate of Social Security isn’t a bigger issue is frankly beyond my comprehension.
House Minority leader and Trump bootlicker Kevin McCarthy, who’s set to ascend to Speaker if the GOP recaptures the chamber, stated earlier this month, via the usual Orwellian language, that when Republicans take charge, they’ll force President Biden to accept major federal spending cuts. And when asked whether popular programs like Social Security would be on the chopping block, he said he wouldn’t “predetermine” anything.
Meanwhile, 157 House Republicans – roughly 75 percent of the chamber’s GOPers – have signed on to a proposed budget plan that calls for narrowing Social Security eligibility and phasing in privatization. (“Privatization” is code for ending the guaranteed SS income, instead exposing it to the vagaries and mood swings of the market.)
On the Senate side – where the swing of a few key races would cede that chamber to the GOP – Florida man Rick Scott says he wants to “sunset” Social Security and all other federal programs every five years, which means that Congress would have to pass SS all over again – or let it expire. That’s apparently too lenient for Ron Johnson, the MAGA stooge from Wisconsin, who wants to eliminate Social Security as a guaranteed benefit and instead require that SS spending be approved by Congress each year. And at least two GOP Senate candidates, Blake Masters in Arizona and Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, have talked up privatization.
You have to admire the Republicans, albeit perversely, for hewing to their destructive convictions. Social Security is wildly popular – according to a 2020 AARP poll, 96 percent of Americans cited it as “either the most important government program, or an important one compared with other government programs” – yet the Republicans want to sabotage it anyway. According to the Pew Research Center, a whopping 74 percent of Americans oppose any benefit cuts. Most predictably, 79 percent of Americans aged 65 and older oppose benefit cuts – which makes sense, because lots of conservative older folks who rant about big government still plan their retirements with big government’s SS checks in mind.
Hang on, though: If Americans aged 65 and older – the most reliable voters, the ones who turn out in droves even in midterm elections – are so opposed to Social Security cuts, then why are they so likely to support a ’22 House Republican takeover (48 percent red, 44 percent blue)? That’s indeed what the pollsters at Pew are telling us. How does that make any sense?
My theory, for what it’s worth, is that voters simply don’t believe the nuking or slashing of Social Security will ever happen, that the GOP’s avowals are empty. (Voters can arguably be forgiven for thinking that way. In 2005 George W. Bush barnstormed the nation with a privatization plan, and it flopped.)
But here’s how we know the Republicans are serious this time: Kevin McCarthy and his gang have declared that in 2023 they will hold America hostage – by refusing to raise the federal debt ceiling, which is necessary for Uncle Sam to keep paying his bills – unless President Biden agrees to make deep cuts in federal “entitlement” spending. In other words, House Republicans, if handed the majority, will jeopardize the full faith and credit of the United States, and prevent us from meeting our existing financial and legal obligations – including the payment of existing Social Security benefits – unless the president and Democrats agree to slash or imperil Social Security in the future.
So there you have it. Republicans are saying out loud that they’re prepared to wreak the economy, and trigger global repercussions, if they’re denied the opportunity to sabotage a broadly popular program with cuts that most Americans adamantly oppose. With two weeks left on the midterm clock, why is this not a top-tier campaign issue?