Bush Invokes Progressive Icons to Sell an Extremist Proposal
President Bush attempted a grand intellectual hijacking in last night's State of the Union speech as he invoked the likes of FDR, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and even Bill Clinton to sell his Social Security privatization plan and conjured up the idealism of JFK and Woodrow Wilson to defend the war in Iraq. But the president's embrace of great progressive leaders of the past cannot cover up his administration's mismanagement and ideological agenda in the present.
It is imperative that Bush's proposal is not seen as "reform" (the word all the major media have been using lately), but rather as "destruction" or "selling out to Wall Street."
Indeed, if Bush does succeed in positing himself in line with the great progressive reformers who created the very programs he intends to destroy, then the American public will be in a very precarious position.
Let us not be blinded by historical amnesia. Privatization of the most basic tenet of the American welfare state cannot pass if we are to ensure future prosperity for all Americans, and not just Wall Street. Progressives must stand up for Social Security and fight vociferously whenever conservatives use the tired line that it (and by extension the entire New Deal) is an outdated program.
Providing for the least among us is never outdated, and is an extension of the most fundamentally American values. Likewise, we must call Bush's privatization plan what it is: a horrendous attempt to send 90% of Americans back to a Dickensian way of life devoid of any bedrock financial security.
Here's what The Center for American Progress had to say about it:
It is imperative that Bush's proposal is not seen as "reform" (the word all the major media have been using lately), but rather as "destruction" or "selling out to Wall Street."
Indeed, if Bush does succeed in positing himself in line with the great progressive reformers who created the very programs he intends to destroy, then the American public will be in a very precarious position.
Let us not be blinded by historical amnesia. Privatization of the most basic tenet of the American welfare state cannot pass if we are to ensure future prosperity for all Americans, and not just Wall Street. Progressives must stand up for Social Security and fight vociferously whenever conservatives use the tired line that it (and by extension the entire New Deal) is an outdated program.
Providing for the least among us is never outdated, and is an extension of the most fundamentally American values. Likewise, we must call Bush's privatization plan what it is: a horrendous attempt to send 90% of Americans back to a Dickensian way of life devoid of any bedrock financial security.
Here's what The Center for American Progress had to say about it:
President Bush quotes FDR but fails to honor his vision. Perhaps Bush should recall another quote from FDR's second inaugural address before trying to wrap himself in his ideas: "Instinctively we recognized a deeper need—the need to find through government the instrument of our united purpose to solve for the individual the ever-rising problems of a complex civilization. Repeated attempts at their solution without the aid of government had left us baffled and bewildered. For, without that aid, we had been unable to create those moral controls over the services of science which are necessary to make science a useful servant instead of a ruthless master of mankind. To do this we knew that we must find practical controls over blind economic forces and blindly selfish men."
Don't be fooled by the president's rhetoric – he's selling an ideological and political agenda, not genuine progressive values. If the president was above board about strengthening and saving Social Security, he would admit Social Security is not going bankrupt and could be solidified for years if he simply repealed his tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. He would admit that his plan will cost $2 trillion to finance – debt that will wipe out any potential gains from private accounts. And he would concede that projections for 6 to 7 percent growth in private accounts would naturally mean sufficient economic growth overall to keep Social Security fully solvent.
President Bush talks of spreading "freedom" and "democracy" yet does nothing to live up to these ideals. If you're going to invoke the ideals of Wilson and JFK you need to live up to them. President Bush has done nothing to confront undemocratic regimes in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Russia and other nations. No one in his administration has ever been held accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib. The administration has done almost nothing to stop the genocide in Sudan. Spreading freedom and ending tyranny will require a lot more than nice speeches.
