Perry's Not The Only Republican Candidate Who Hates Social Security

During his ill-fated eight years as president, one of the biggest mistakes Bush made was to try and privatize Social Security, turning it over to the bankers on Wall Street to play with. It didn't happen because it quickly became apparent that a huge majority of the American people didn't want to see it privatized. But the Republicans didn't give up, they just changed their tactics. They would still love to abolish the program -- even though it works just as it was meant to.

Most Republicans have looked at the polls, and they know they can't abolish Social Security in one fell swoop without incurring the wrath of the general public. Now they are waging a campaign to convince the public that Social Security is in trouble and must be changed. Of course the change they are talking about is not to fully fund it (which would be easy to do by removing the cap on wages subject to FICA taxes), but to raise the retirement age and cut benefits. And they would keep cutting until the program is no longer viable. They've decided to kill it off a little bit at a time (hoping the public won't notice until it's too late).

But Rick Perry is not as bright as most other Republican presidential candidates. He jumped into the presidential race by openly attacking Social Security (and Medicare). He called Social Security unconstitutional, said it was a "Ponzi scheme", and told young Americans it would not be there when they needed it. That's an outrageous lie, and the only way it wouldn't be there is if he (or one of his Republican cohorts) is allowed to kill it off. There is already some blowback against this with the general public and his numbers there have been dropping (although he is still popular with the teabaggers, who hate all government programs).

His Republican opponents smell some blood in the water, and they have attacked him hoping to pick up the votes of elderly Republicans. But make no mistake, their attacks on Perry for his views on Social Security are purely a political and very hypocritical move. They don't like Social Security any more than Perry does -- they just know better than to say it in the middle of a political campaign. Every single one of them would happily abolish Social Security if they were given the chance.

The good folks at Think Progress have done some research for us. Here is what they found out about the attitudes of the other Republican candidates on Social Security:

MITT ROMNEY: The former Massachusetts governor has a well-worn record of advocating to privatize Social Security. In 2007, when Romney was also running for president, he pushed for the creation of Social Security personal accounts three separate times. When a town hall attendee told him such a plan was “privatization,” Romney replied, “you call it privatization. I call it a private account.” He enshrined this position in his 2010 book No Apology, stating “individual retirement accounts would encourage more Americans to invest in the private sector that powers our economy.”

MICHELE BACHMANN: In an interview last year, the Minnesota congresswoman insisted young workers “need to have some options in their life, so that going forward they can have ownership for their own Social Security, their own retirement, something they can pass on to the beneficiary of their choice.” When asked in 2008 how Republicans couldpromote privatization without frightening seniors, she responded, “I believe that we should ensure that those currently receiving Social Security should continue to do so in its current form, but also give a new generation of workers the right to invest some of their money into accounts of their own.” In 2006, she pledged to vote for “regulated individual retirement accounts.”

RON PAUL: During last week’s presidential debate, Rep. Paul (TX) drew applause for stating, “What I would like to do is to allow all the young people to get out of Social Security and go on their own!” He told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer last year that he’d support “turn[ing] this money over and give the individual money like an investment retirement fundthat they manage.”

RICK SANTORUM: After writing an op-ed calling to “establish personal retirement accounts” in 2005, the former Pennsylvania senator actually launched his 2012 presidential campaign by reminding everyone that he supports these President George W. Bush-style private accounts. He hedged last month on calling for the immediate creation of accounts, but only because having to additionally pay for Social Security benefits while financing such accounts “is to me just something that we can’t do right now.” “I’d love to be able to do it,” he added.

HERMAN CAIN: In the Tea Party debate last week, the pizza mogul declared, “I support a personal retirement system option in order tophase [out] the current system. We know that this works.”

NEWT GINGRICH: Last year, the former House Speaker endorsed House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan to create personal accounts. He believed such a plan would “triple the earnings” for future retirees. He has touted such a plan since 2007.

Don't believe the Republican lies. Social Security is not in deep trouble, and can easily be saved. And the first step toward doing that is to vote the Republicans out of power in the next election.