Why Karl at Patterico is Wrong

The discussion being held among those on the Right (from Republican to Conservative) is how likely it is that a majority of the American people will support entitlement reform.  Karl at Patterico puts one side of the case this way: 

Drum is only half-right.  Reagan – and other Republicans — have been unable to get meaningful spending cuts or entitlement reform because public opinion did not support them.  There are a zillion polls showing that Democrats and Republicans alike only support cuts to space exploration and foreign aid.  Those who routinely rely on MediScare in their campaigns should not need a reminder of this.

At some point a tipping point is reached and people are ready to accept ideas that their parents would have dismissed.  Like married gays.  Today, if you oppose gay marriage, you are read out of “respectable” society.  Gays evolved from perverts … to fun friends interested in antiques … to civil rights icons, all within my lifetime.

So it is with entitlements.  Several streams of thought are meeting and forming a river.  The general public is now involved in the discussion of big thoughts: how can we keep the developed world from going broke.  The concern is not just American; the economies of most of the European states are collapsing under a econo-political burden that is crashing.  Too much has been promised to too many and the inexorable laws of demographics have overtaken the promises.  There are just not enough Greek, Spanish, British or Italian young to pay the benefits of their aging countrymen. They’re farther into the rapids that we are and their canoe is tipping.

But here in the US, while the elderly count on their social security payments, the young don’t believe these programs will be there for them.   I have not taken a scientific poll but if my children are anything near typical, theses thirty-somethings believe in social security just as much as they believe in the tooth fairy.   If they don’t believe they’ll get benefits at the rate the Feds are spending the country into insolvency, it’s entirely possible that we can see a fundamental restructuring both Social Security and Medicare if it’s presented the right way.

I personally think that Paul Ryan’s proposal can be sold to people under 40 because these people think they are going to get cheated of their promised benefits if fundamental reforms are not made.  The median age in the US is 37, 20% of us are under 14 and only 13% are over 65.  Ryan’s proposal protects those who are 55 and older.  His reforms give hope to people like my children that some social safety net will exist for them as they approach retirement.

Perhaps Ryan’s proposal was scrapped due to cowardice on the part of establishment Republicans whose role in life has been to accommodate Democrats.  Perhaps there was not enough time to explain it to the American people before the debt battle reached its peak.  For whatever reason, it would be crime to allow it to languish. 

Do it for MY children.