Social Security and Medicare Shouldn't Be Taboo for the GOP

Social Security and Medicare Shouldn't Be Taboo for the GOP

09/02/14

W. James Antle III

Domestic Politics, United States

Don't be afraid of cutting entitlements.

George W. Bush once vowed to spend his vaunted “political capital” on Social Security reform. Judging from the past couple weeks, he was lucky Karl Rove was with him rather than against him.

Rove’s American Crossroads GPS has been hitting vulnerable swing-state Democratic senators with ads attacking their positions on entitlement reform. There’s just one problem: Rove’s group is positioning itself to the left of these Democrats.

Consider Rove’s contribution to the Arkansas Senate race. "It’s troubling that Senator Mark Pryor said we should overhaul Social Security and Medicare," the first ad says. Both programs are obligated to pay out trillions more in benefits than they can afford.

American Crossroads is also up on the air in North Carolina. "[Kay] Hagan’s a ‘big believer’ in a controversial plan that raises the retirement age, reduces the home mortgage deduction, and increases out-of-pocket Medicare costs," the narrator of the second ad intones.

To some extent, this is just political judo: using the Democrats’ own weight—in the form of “Mediscare” attacks—against them. Pryor in particular hasn’t been afraid to demagogue Republican challenger Tom Cotton’s position on entitlements.

But any short-term gain in picking up two Senate seats could be outweighed by making entitlement reform even more difficult. Social Security and Medicare are the two biggest drivers of the country’s long-term debt. To continue on the current trajectory would require unsustainable tax increases, abrupt benefit cuts or financing these programs in ways that increase the budget deficit—coming as soon as a dozen years from now in Medicare Part A’s case.

Without reforms, there may be serious service disruptions for seniors. There certainly will be no way to keep borrowing and spending under control, and it will be difficult to avoid broad-based middle-class tax increases.

Read full articlehttp://nationalinterest.org/feature/social-security-medicare-shouldnt-be-taboo-the-gop-11175