The Social Security Fight Continues

Apparently, wisdom and youth are not necessarily mutually exclusive...

Privatization foes in the Social Security debate have tried to pressure members of Congress by following them in waffle and duck costumes. Now supporters of private investment accounts are preparing a Capitol Hill snow job.

Dozens of college students who support the accounts plan to spend Wednesday afternoon lobbying members of the Senate Finance Committee — after a news conference staged amid imported snow and ice sculptures in the summer haze hanging over the capital.

"The imagery has multiple meanings," said Jonathan Swanson, a Yale University senior who co-founded Students for Saving Social Security. "It can mean, `Our future melting away,' or, `Congress is giving us the cold shoulder,' or, `Congress is freezing us out of the debate,' or anything else catchy you can think of."

Swanson, a 22-year-old from Plymouth, Minn., and a friend, Patrick Wetherille, also 22, a senior at Haverford College, started the group in March amid complaints that young people were largely absent from the Social Security debate despite having a huge stake in the outcome.

Most of the proposed overhauls would affect people younger than 55, with little impact on those older than that. President Bush has cast his signature proposal — diverting a portion of payroll taxes to personal investment accounts — as most beneficial to young people, saying money deposited in the accounts will grow faster through the long-term effects of compounding interest.

Democrats have steadfastly opposed personal accounts, saying the tax diversion is a backdoor attempt to dismantle the Depression-era program by replacing its guaranteed government check with investments subject to a cyclical stock market.

The Democrats have been supported by Americans United to Protect Social Security. Its members spent the July 4 recess following undecided members of the House Ways and Means Committee in their districts in waffle costumes or, in one case, a duck suit.

They rent costumes and send people from DC to follow people around and apply pressure. We have people from around the country come to DC and actually do something really creative. And are we sure the goofball in the duck suit wasn't just dressing like he usually does?