Dem
47
GOP
53
Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) continues to impress as a Republican who is willing to be a straight shooter, and to say things that are on target, even if they are unpopular. This weekend, he was on Meet the Press, and was asked about the future of Social Security. He said:
We're not being honest when we look people in the eye and say we're not going to touch it. If we don't touch it, it touches itself. You know that, right? That's not being honest with the American people, and I think that's one of the things that makes them not trust us, when we say something that they just know is not true.
He concluded with the observation that people who are currently drawing Social Security will be OK, but there needs to be a conversation about what's going to happen for people in their 20s or 30s.
This strikes us as entirely unobjectionable and entirely correct. At the moment, the books for Social Security don't balance. Or, to be a bit more precise, they're not going to balance by 2035 or so, when the Social Security Trust Fund is going to be exhausted. Either more money needs to flow into the system, or less money needs to flow out. And now is probably a better time to start talking about options, as opposed to doing what Congress normally does, and waiting until the very last minute.
Obviously, Curtis is just one senator, and his opinions do not presage any sort of meaningful progress on the subject. However, we take note of his words for two reasons. First, they stand as a refreshing contrast to the smoke and mirrors show that's coming from Elon Musk and his DOGEys. We still don't entirely grasp what Musk & Co. are trying to do, but we are sure that the goal is NOT to save Social Security. Second, basically everyone reading this site is longing for the day when some regular Republican will come along and lead the Party out of the Trumpy wilderness, so it can go back to being a normal, sane counterweight to the Democrats. More and more, Curtis looks like he'd be an excellent candidate to be that person. (Z)