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Centrists’ clueless obsession: Why do so many want to cut Social Security?

Jim Newell, Salon

Thursday, Oct 9, 2014 11:20 AM EST

Social Security is the most popular government program in history. And yet when politicians decide to move to the “center,” where the great majorities presumably are, they do so by talking about the need to cut the deficit. Cutting the deficit is superficially popular, because (a) big numbers look scary and (b) too many people falsely believe (and are enabled by those who know better) that items like foreign aid are the largest parts of the federal budget. When you poll specifically about support for cutting Medicare or Social Security, though, the numbers are grim.

A couple of Democratic Senators from red/purple states who are up for reelection this year, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, both find it politically rewarding to position themselves as centrists. They hugged the Simpsons-Bowles deficit reduction plan, which recommended both raising the Social Security retirement age and linking Social Security COLA increases to “chained CPI,” i.e. cutting Social Security benefits. In order to appeal to the “center,” Hagan and Pryor – who honestly probably hadn’t read the thing, but were told by stupid advisers that it was something they should align themselves with – ran arms-outstretched to a plan to cut Social Security benefits, an extraordinarily unpopular political position. Karl Rove’s outside groups pounced. Who could’ve predicted?

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Perhaps someday, centrists, or those trying to appeal to the center, will realize that endorsing Social Security cuts is SPECIFICALLY NOT how to appeal to the center. It is a far-right position that even Republican politicians recognize would be an idiotic thing to run on, because rank-and-file Republican voters love Social Security.