I'm Pete du Pont with the National Center for Policy Analysis. A little noticed statistic buried in the election drama in Florida was that exit pollsters found about half of senior citizens voted for George Bush, and a majority of people favored Bush's plan to partially privatize social security.
Al Gore tore up Florida trying to terrify the locals — especially the older ones — with grim pictures of a bankrupt Social Security system if bush was elected, and criticized Bush for wanting to experiment dangerously with the government's money (which is, of course, the people's money.} But the polls showed it didn't sell. Will washington now take notice?
Whatever rhetorical hysteria politicians choose to invoke about Social Security, a majority of americans understand the system is doomed by demographics and that the only way out is to change the system by giving the people who pay control over at least some of their money. Al Gore couldn't sell the doom and gloom message to what was, potentially, its most receptive audience.
Queston is: can Washington understand that, and do the right thing?
Those are my ideas, and at the NCPA we know ideas can change the world. I'm Pete du Pont. Next time, OSHA strikes.