There is no doubt that Social Security needs to change, almost as much as Medicare and Medicaid need to. But making statements and promoting changes that would do away with it altogether is only going to frighten then electorate. Especially those who rely on the programs. Perry is on record as saying that Social Security should never have been implemented in the first place. He is on record as wanting to repeal the 16th Amendment. It’s hard to reconcile those with a claim that Perry really wants to protect it rather than end it.
“It’s hard to reconcile those with a claim that Perry really wants to protect it rather than end it.”
But of course we have to end it. That’s the whole point. We can’t have a system of social insurance that guarantees everyone a “decent” retirement. Such a guarantee fatally undermines everything that made our society successful. It has to change. We can have a welfare program for the poor, elderly and otherwise. We can ensure that nobody starves of freezes to death, but we can’t have social insurance. Period. If the electorate can’t grasp that reality, we are doomed.
Perry is trying to sell the public on the one thing it really has to buy if we are ever to return to our former glory or any approximation thereof. This isn’t a vulnerability in a candidate, it’s a prerequisite.