Citizen's Rent 2005: Social Security: There IS NO Crisis

A few days ago, I found a Matt Yglesias post with an active and thoughtful comment thread on the subject of framing the debate on social security. The emphasis wasn't so much about framing the issue as it was what language we should use to discuss it. From social insecurity to forced savings, the commenters suggest and critique terminology for discussing privatization. I like to refer to it as repealing social security.

The issue here is the difference between framing an issue and the terminology chosen to introduce and reinforce that frame. Marc at the Junkiewire - The Joe Hill Dispatch posted a clear and concise description of the difference and reminds us that the Republican framing on social security is that it's broke, in crisis, and needs to be fixed

Yglesias picks that up in a post on TAPPED, where he clearly states the necessary counter-framing that there is no social security crisis: "I'm not sure the older liberals who run the show quite understand how overwhelmingly important it is to keep the "there is no crisis" message front and center in the Social Security debate." He goes on to illustrate the effectiveness of the Republicans' "crisis framing" in his own past views to underscore the effectiveness of their framing efforts and the need to counter them if we are to have any hope of winning the battle to protect social security.

Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly picks up the same thread, citing Yglesias and telling his own story of buying into the Republican frame and how he came to discover that there was no crisis in social security. He summarizes what he discovered when he investigated the crisis he thought existed with this conclusion: "Nothing is going bankrupt, benefits will continue to be paid forever, and future funding problems are both modest in size and not that hard to deal with."

This is important. We can debate terminology all day and still end up reinforcing the Republican frame of crisis and insolvency. The debate isn't how to reform social security, it's whether reform is needed at all. We cannot cede the battle over the need for reform before it's been fought. This is the issue we need to discuss. Beat the drums and proclaim, "There is no social security crisis!" It's the only way to win.