Milking Alan Simpson

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

By Matthew Irwin

Jackson Hole, Wyoming - Over dinner Monday night, some friends and I got into an argument over Alan Simpson’s recent comments about Social Security.

I had parroted The New York Times columnist Gail Collins’s opinion that it seems odd for a man on a government pension to rail against government handouts, adding that his much-lauded sense of humor seems to be a passive-aggressive distraction from serious debate. I also said that the “milk cow” line is as obtuse as any number of Sarah Palin’s outrageous claims about Obama. My friends called my comments “reductive,” and used as evidence Simpson’s track record, which includes a boost in funding to the National Endowment for the Arts and his support of gay rights.

Liking my friends and hating it when people use my favorite words against me (“reductive”), I reconsidered for several hours after I got home and researched for at least an hour Tuesday morning.

Although I agree that Simpson’s track record demonstrates him to be a progressive Republican concerned with charitable and altruistic efforts, his view on Social Security is a serious wrong turn. On further thought, I believe Simpson’s comments to be not only obtuse, but also condescending, and his apology (delivered in the form of another joke) to be decidedly insincere.

The issue with Social Security is not that millions of people look to it to float them through retirement, but that those same millions of people pay for that benefit, only to have Congress treat it like a petty cash drawer for any number of underfunded government efforts.

Insinuating that Social Security is a handout misrepresents the program and treats recipients as “lesser people.” Wait, where have I heard that phrase before? Oh yes, from Simpson himself.

Sorry, friends. I’m not on board. JHW


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Milking Alan Simpson | Planet JH News Article: Editorial

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