From the inception of Social Security in 1935, politicians have encouraged people to think of the system as similar to private pensions. Private pension plans that invest a person's contributions in secure, interest-bearing instruments do not go broke.
Work-fare programs in some states already have been successful in getting recipients back to work while decreasing total welfare costs.
A 1994 poll found that more people in their twenties believed in Unidentified Flying Objects than believed they would collect Social Security retirement benefits.
After years of bipartisan legislative proposals to create tax-free Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs), months of partisan congressional wrangling over whether to include MSAs in health insurance reform proposals and weeks of discussion on various MSA demonstration projects, Congress passed a law that includes a limited version of Medical Savings Accounts. The legislation has some good and some bad points, but the future fight over who can have an MSA likely will get ugly.
Politicians complain that the media never give them credit when programs work. Is President Clinton's "get tough on crime" policy finally paying dividends?
So, is America ready for a third-party? Ross Perot thinks so. So does David Broder of the Washington Post, who writes that by 2000, a third party will be a major political force in America.
For the past year, the Republicans have been a fractious lot. The Gingrich conservatives have argued with the liberal Senate Republicans. The presidential primaries were nasty. Abortion is an issue that splits the party into warring factions on a weekly basis.