Rick Perry has reversed himself again, now saying that he stand by everything in his book "Fed Up" including the notion that Social Security is unconstitutional. Saturday at a campaign stop in Des Moines, Perry made it clear:
KEYES: But should states-rights supporters be worried that, as governor you said that Social Security is not something that falls in the purview of the federal government, but in your campaign, have backed off that?
PERRY: I haven’t backed off anything in my book. Read the book again, get it right. Next question.
Rick Perry is far from the only Republican who wants to end Social Security. Last Wednesday Sen. Marco Rubio indicated that he would like nothing more than to get rid of the program (along with Medicare) because it's "weakened us as a people".
These programs actually weakened us as a people. You see, almost forever, it was institutions in society that assumed the role of taking care of one another. If someone was sick in your family, you took care of them. If a neighbor met misfortune, you took care of them. You saved for your retirement and your future because you had to. We took these things upon ourselves in our communities, our families, and our homes, and our churches and our synagogues. But all that changed when the government began to assume those responsibilities. All of a sudden, for an increasing number of people in our nation, it was no longer necessary to worry about saving for security because that was the government’s job.
At this point, Republicans aren't just touching the third rail of American politics, they're dismantling the entire system with dynamite. And voters my age and younger are cheering them on, knowing that "they'll never see a Social Security or Medicare check" but they sure are seeing FICA come out of their current paycheck every month. If you wonder why or how anyone under the age of 35 would even consider voting Republican in 2012, the GOP assault casting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as "failed government boondoggles" and "unconstitutional taxes on the working class" is basically the entire GOP youth vote program.
And for a generation that has grown up with Reaganite "government as the problem" rhetoric all their lives, it's no big deal to talk like this. You will see more of this as we get closer to the election, the faux-libertarian movement to dismantle the federal government under the guise of "liberty and freedom" is exactly what corporate America wants.
And Republicans are pretty confident they can achieve that, very soon.
