Rare Jewel Insight: February 4, 2005
Table of Contents:
1. COMMENTARY
- “President Bush Promotes Social Security Reform”
2. MORE EVENTS
- Come see RJM at these events
1. COMMENTARY
- “President Bush Promotes Social Security Reform”
(by Tim Ewing, Founder/Publisher, Rare Jewel Magazine)
Yesterday I attended the Town Hall meeting in Great Falls, MT where President George W Bush discussed one of his top priorities for his final term in office…the Social Security crisis.
Unfortunately, President Bush is not spending the “political capital” granted him by Values Voters in 2004 to address America’s top three issues: Restoring America’s foundational doctrine that the Judeo-Christian God is sovereign over our nation and our government, protecting marriage as between one man and one woman, and protecting the life of our nation’s innocents. Rather, he has chosen to make Social Security reform the centerpiece of his next administration.
Consequently, we will not lay down and allow these “top three” issues to fade from the minds of our elected officials…to the contrary, we will continue to address these matters in future issues of Rare Jewel Insight.
However, there is a silver lining in President Bush’s effort to take on Social Security…because it addresses (in part) another top priority for Christian patriots: that is reducing our ever-expanding debt-ridden federal government. President Bush is correct, there is a Social Security crisis and if Christian patriots play their cards right, we can make this an important step towards shrinking the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy.
First, we must equip ourselves with knowledge about what is this Social Security crisis.
In front of an enthusiastic crowd of 7,000 Montanans, President Bush highlighted the fact that in less than 15 years Social Security in its current form will be bankrupt. In other words, by 2018 Social Security will begin paying out more than it takes in -- and every year afterward will bring a new shortfall, bigger than the year before. This is an inherent problem of our “pay as you go” system (more on that later).
In his book, Breach of Trust, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) wrote two years ago, “Without major reforms, these programs [Social Security and Medicare] can only be sustained by massive benefit cuts or tax increases that would push the average American’s tax burden well above 50 percent…. Unfortunately, the political will does not exist in either party to take the political risks necessary to address these challenges.”
Well it now appears President Bush is willing to take the political risk to tackle Social Security. In good stewardship-form, Christian patriots should play an active role in this debate.
What is “Pay as you Go”?
The Social Security System is in trouble because there is no giant savings account that collects those deductions that we are so painfully aware of each time we get our paycheck. The monies collected from our paychecks go right back out the door to those who currently receive social security benefits. So in 2018 (or 2019, or 2021-- we could quibble about the exact date, but the time is near, no doubt) the amount collected from our paychecks will no longer cover what has been promised to retirees…and the shortfall will grow each year thereafter, thus compounding the crisis.
* In 1950, there were 16 workers to support every one person receiving social security benefits
* Today, there are 3.3 workers for every one person receiving social security benefits
* When today’s youngest workers begin to retire in 2040 there will be just 2 workers for every beneficiary.
Due to the combined effect of retiring baby-boomers, longer life expectancies, higher health care costs, and 45 million aborted babies who won’t be around to pay into the Social Security System, we are headed for trouble.
Before we decide how to fix Social Security, we must look first at the big picture. As we tune our listening ears to the ensuing debates about Social Security and what to do with it, we must realize, after all, that Social Security has basically become a government-provided retirement plan…an expected entitlement for all citizens, regardless of how much one has paid into the system.
In America, we are hurtling down a path where government provides for us, well, everything! Government-provided health care, government-provided job security, government-provided education, government-provided childcare, government-provided housing, government-provided retirement, government-provided…YOU NAME IT and we’ll find plenty of politicians who will promise to expand a government program to get it for you. No worries, no financial hassles, no stress, no needs (ere, wants) gone unmet -- all compliments of some friendly neighborhood government program.
On the other hand, if we look long and hard enough in the rear view mirror, we will see inklings of an America that was filled with people who were willing to manage their own affairs, to take responsibility for their own lives, to find their own jobs or to create one if none were to be found, and families that looked after one another and provided for their senior members.
Which America shall we choose? Will we choose the one that increasingly turns to a central government to plan and care for every nook and cranny of our economy and the lives of its citizens? Or, will we choose the America that was built by hardworking souls who time and again undertook risks, faced insurmountable odds, lost some of life’s battles and won others, and who depended mightily on their Creator God -- and thus established the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?
The freedom and prosperity that America enjoys today is not the result of Founding Fathers who set out to build a huge federal bureaucracy that would eliminate all risk and all toils of life. Rather, the Founders set out to build a nation where government would get out of the way of its people because they believed people were capable of overcoming the trials and tribulations of life on their own, with the help of friends and family and a trust in God -- not some government agency. There was no income tax, social security tax, or medicare tax to fund expansive government programs…yet somehow the United States became the greatest nation of all time, and its people prospered.
Why do we continue to abandon that which brought success for our nation? A citizenry who looks to its government to provide for all its needs is not a courageous nation. A citizenry who looks to its government to provide for all its needs will not be free.
As we look down the long road of Social Security reform, we must determine where we want this to lead. We must be careful that the politicians don’t swap one government-provided retirement program for another that simply wears a new name. We should choose only that path which leads our nation back to one of self-responsibility instead of government-dependency.
2. MORE EVENTS
- Come see RJM at these events
* Tomorrow, Saturday, Feb 5: Rick Marschall, Managing Editor
for Rare Jewel Magazine, will be at the Eagle Forum of
California “A Nation at Risk” Conference -- held in Sacramento,
CA.
Eagle Forum of California's education conferences are highly
praised by those who have attended them. Phyllis Schlafly says
they are some of the best conferences she has been to -- all
packed into one day. An attendee from last year’s conference
wrote to share that as a result of attending, and what she learned
about abortion, has changed her life and helped her to receive
comfort and forgiveness for the abortion she had 14 years
previous. Another attendee reported that he was so impacted by
the Eagle Forum conference that he went home and successfully
ran for the school board, doing what he could to make a
difference.
For more information, go to:
http://www.eagleforumofcalifornia.com
* Feb 18 - 19: Tim Ewing and Rick Marschall will be at Dr D
James Kennedy’s conference, “Reclaim America for Christ” –
held in Ft Lauderdale, FL. For more information, go to:
http://www.reclaimamerica.org/PAGES/CONFERENCES/RAC2005/default.aspx
* Feb 21 (President’s Day):
Tim Ewing and Rick Marschall will join Christian historian
David Barton in Abilene, Texas for the “One Nation ‘Still’
Under God” Rally; hosted by the Discovery Center.
The Discovery Center is a specialty shop with resources and
classes that teach a Biblical view of science, history and the arts
-- all designed to introduce and equip children and their parents
with a world view from God's perspective as to the origin and
purpose for their lives on planet earth.
For more information on the Rally and The Discovery Center go
to:
http://site.mawebcenters.com/discoverycenter/home.html
