Folks need to keep pointing out that the Republicans don't have a plan. What they are offering is blue smoke, mirrors and prayers that the economy will grow at a prescribed rate for the next seventy years. The Democrats need to keep saying that the Emperor has no clothes. In addition, they need to do what Bush and his people are doing, which is to state the line of march for their friends, allies and supporters. The Democrats, for once in this century need to act as political leaders, not policy wonks. Getting into a policy debate with people who are, at best, presenting propaganda as fact only serves to confuse people. If the Democrats would truly like to be seen as having some spiritual values then they need to understand that being in complete opposition to Bush's so-called Social Security fix, which is just a scam to pour working folks money into the capital markets to benefit Wall Street (Do I sound like a wild-eyed Bolshevist?) is an example of truly doing the Lord's work here on earth.

I need to add another point. One of the things Social Security has done over the nearly 70 years it has been in existence is to eliminate or greatly mitigate a certain level of poverty in this country particularly among the elderly. This development, IMHO, has worked to make our country and our society fairly stable in some critically important ways. By and large, we do not have the sort of grinding, borderline starvation povert that is all too prevalent in too many countries in this world.

This level of stability has also made it possible for George Bush, his family and his supporters and allies to become quite affluent. This is why I find the behavior of these Republicans so puzzling, if not outright bizarre. Their willingness to create and, worse, actively, promote policies and programs that are quite likely to cause a great deal of social, economic and political disequilibrium all for the sake of making themselves richer and, apparently, proving that FDR was wrong. I think it was Lenin who declared that left-wing communists suffered from an infantile disorder. I think that right-wing Republicans and Black Conservatives (recognizing Cobb's important distinction) may be beating them out for this label.

The Democrats don't NEED a stinking plan, because Social Security is NOT in crisis, and is working just the way it was designed. Means testing should be used to avoid paying rich folks money they don't need. Dems should not let themselves be challenged to present a counter-proposal, when they need to be attacking Bush's underlying premise as TOTALLY FALSE.