One of the things I have noticed is the never ending attacks on Social Security and Medicare. The long game as Digby keeps warning us is to kill the programs or emasculate them to worthlessness.Ordinarily I am not a huge fan of amendments because they are often used to prevent good government. See the trainwreck of California government as the signal example of why not to govern by amendment.
If we are to protect our Social Insurance programs we need to draw a bright line in the sand. Frankly with Ben Nelson and Joe Lieberman we need to take some steps to put the core elements of the progressive agenda front and center in the public eye. We need to pull our DINOs over the line to being democrats again and protecting our legacy.
I drafted a proposed Constitutional amendment to try and accomplish this goal. I tweeted the proposal to Bernie Sanders the other day. If we keeo sending this to the real Democrats in the senate and the house we will put the most important issues on the front burner for 2012.
Time to start shifting the frame back, The WIngers keep pushing a BBA as a means of killing our hard won social insurance programs. Here is our counter amendment.
28th Amendment
1. "Social security and Medicare are social insurance programs guaranteed to all Americans as protections against the vagaries of sickness, disability and old age."
2. "Congress must raise taxes as needed to maintain or improve current benefit levels at inflation adjusted levels as of the day of ratification."
3." Congress may not increase the age of eligibility for medicare beyond age 65."
4. "Normal retirement age for full social security benefits shall be 67 years."
3. "This amendment shall take effect upon ratification."
The advantage to this approach is that it writes SS as a positive right for all into the connstitution. It also lays the groundwork to extablish healthare as a constitutional right which sets the stage for single payer. Unless we write guarantees for all into the social contract we will always be fighting the battle to keep what we have instead of fighting for better.
I would be willing to bet that Rushbos head will explode.
