Excerpts from Kerry's Speech, Part I

This is part one in my commentary on things in John Kerry's speech that liberals are proud of, i.e. clips they have played on Air America. Go to Part II

"I will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits."

...I will keep my head buried firmly in the sand.

America has an aging population. People are living longer and having fewer children. The fastest growing age cohort is 85-90 year olds.

As someone who has is fortunate enough to have all 4 of my grandparents, 1 step-grandmother and knew one of my great-grandmothers, I personally benefit: I have been fortunate enough to have received wisdom, advice and love from each of these special people. But as a young member of a society facing the very real possibility of supporting multiple generations with my tax money, John Kerry's* refusal to recognize the problem is a hugely scary thing.

I strongly recommend a speech by William W. Beach called "Population Problems: The Politics of Aging and Retirement in the 21st Century". The second link is a direct link to the audio, if you have any problems, try going to this page and scrolling down.

Mr. Beach discusses the problems that the U.S. and Europe are currently facing with our public (as opposed to private) pension programs. The U.S. is actually relatively okay...our program will last 50 years as opposed to some of Europe's (Italy's, for example) which have a much shorter time frame.

However, Mr. Beach, and the others at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis do see a way out. But we would have to start making changes now. We have to start encouraging people to save for their own retirement to change the system into a self-funded retirement program.

I don't want a president who thinks that we don't need to fix this problem. I don't want one who is advocating not fixing it. I don't want a president who is proud of advocating doing nothing.


^{*I wonder how his younger supporters feel: after all, he is promising to help those over 55 at the direct expense of those under 30.}