I thought I'd give my opinion right up front
Since CNN is shilling for the Religious Right nowadays I thought I'd give my honest, swear-ta-God opinion of an idea they're floating.
The ace up his sleeveNEW YORK (CNN) -- This past weekend, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the influential chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, seemed to throw cold water on President Bush's hopes for major Social Security change. And recent polls have shown that the public is also cool to the idea of private accounts, arguably the central element of President Bush's Social Security plan.
But as the Social Security debate continues to unfold, do not underestimate President Bush's ability to still get his ideas enacted. Indeed, even without broad Congressional or public support, President Bush just may have an ace up his sleeve. How might he enact his private accounts idea without such support, you may ask? By executive order.
...When President Clinton failed to get his health care plan passed in the mid-1990s, he experimented with portions of his program via executive order.
Similarly, if President Bush ultimately fails to persuade Congress (especially centrist Senators) to back his private account plan, he may sign an executive order for a smaller version of his plan,
Critics of executive orders note that Congress and the courts rarely overturn such directives, thereby raising the specter of unchecked, un-reviewed and potentially even presidential abuse of power. Indeed, the Supreme Court has only overturned an executive order twice and Congress a mere four times in the past century.
Ladies and gentlemen, if Bush does this in the face of the overwhelming rejection of his push for privatization it will represent the biggest "Fuck all you little people" ever committed in American politics.
It would be like, "Yes I know I said this will make the very situation I said we need to fix worse. Yes, I've already admitted this has nothing to do with solvency.
"But I don't care. I don't care that it increases the debt...look at all the debt I've already piled up, you think a little more will stop me? I don't care that you don't like the idea...you're either part of the intelligent, educated sector of society (in which case I just don't care about you) or you're not (in which case you're incapable of framing an argument).
"So fuck you. I'm doing what I want to do with YOUR money."
