Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion

The next time you hear some supposed “expert” from The Heritage Foundation given the chance to speak on an NPR program like the Diane Rehm show, remember this graphic here, taken straight from The Heritage Foundation’s web site. It’s from a page of political propaganda promoting the evisceration of Social Security.

You see, The Heritage Foundation isn’t really a think tank so much as it is a propaganda factory dedicated to pumping out justifications for the right wing agenda. That’s why The Heritage Foundation’s page on Social Security includes this graphic (I added the critical words below). Even now in 2007, two years after the American people overwhelmingly rejected the right wing plan to kill Social Security, The Heritage Foundation is still trying to push it. They’re still working the tired old line that, because the Social Security system might be short of some money a couple of generations in the future, we ought to just go ahead and kill it now.

This claim has been made by the right wing since the 1970s. It’s a matter of political faith, not careful research and consideration. The right wingers just hate the idea of the government helping working people to come together to ensure some security for the families in the face of old age, infirmity, and tragic accidents. They’d prefer that we rely on shaky private schemes that involve investing in corporations like Halliburton and Enron.

Social Security doesn’t have insufficient funds - not anything close to it. The Heritage Foundation does, however, have insufficient credibility.