Bush Administration: You'll Believe Anything, Ya Suckers!

In case you had any doubts, a White House memo has surfaced that all but admits that the Social Security crisis is a sham created by the White House so that they can funnel that nice pie over to their friends in the investment industry (emphases mine):

WASHINGTON - The success of President Bush’s push to remake Social Security depends on convincing the public that the system is “heading for an iceberg,” according to a White House strategy note that makes the case for cutting benefits promised for the future.



Calling the effort “one of the most important conservative undertakings of modern times,” Peter Wehner, the deputy to White House political director Karl Rove, says in the e-mail message that a battle over Social Security is winnable for the first time in six decades and could transform the political landscape.



The White House confirmed the authenticity of the e-mail but did not have an immediate comment.



“We have it within our grasp to move away from dependency on government and toward giving greater power and responsibility to individuals,” said Wehner, the director of White House Strategic Initiatives. He called the Democratic Party the “party of obstruction and opposition. It is the Party of the Past.”



But the administration must “establish an important premise: the current system is heading toward an iceberg,” Wehner’s e-mail said.

There's nothing here about alerting the public to a real crisis, just about the necessity to establish the PERCEPTION that there's a crisis. And nestled right in there is the Republican viewpoint: That Social Security is nothing but a big welfare program that must be eliminated.



This "power and responsibility" meme that they're pushing sounds good, but the flip side of that is "If you're not as good at the game as we are, suckers, you're on your own, and go fuck yourself and die."



That's the Republican way, folks. Is that what YOU wanted?