SOCIAL SECURITY OPTION GETS NEW BACKING

The evolution, over the last 15 years or so, of the debate over the future of Social Security is one of the most fascinating in American public life. This supplementary program for assistance in old age is the principal legacy of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. By the early 1980s it was so ingrained in American life that politicians dubbed it the "third rail" of American politics. The warning to politicians was blunt: Touch it and, like that middle rail on an electrified subway train, you'd die.

Gradually this has begun to change, as the inescapable demographic facts stare us in the face. At Social Security's inception in 1937, there were 15 workers for every recipient. Today, there are three. And soon in the next century, there will be just two. Absent significant reform, future generations will have to face staggering tax burdens to support an unsustainable system. Little doubt then, that a recent poll showed more 20-something Generation Xers believe in UFOs than believe there will be anything left for them when it comes their time to receive Social Security.

President Clinton has proposed a series of dialogues on the future of Social Security, with the first to begin April 7 in Kansas City. There is reason to be skeptical of what some have dubbed the Oprahfication of American life, what with such dialogues being held now even on foreign policy, as on the question of Iraq last month in Columbus, Ohio. Still, if properly staged and participated in, these dialogues can be an important contribution to the public debate.

The most promising reforms, as shown in the excerpt from The Wall Street Journal reprinted below, involve a system of individual market accounts. In a word, this is freedom, and the nation of Chile has shown us the way in instituting these exciting reforms. Americans should reject those timid, liberal voices telling us that we aren't smart enough to provide for our own retirement and get busy on that project. As liberal icons such as Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan are beginning to acknowledge, the magic of compound interest -- what Einstein called the Eighth Wonder of the World -- isn't for the rich alone. It is for all people, everywhere. Harness it, and the frustrating dead-end Social Security debate is transformed, and sound retirements are guaranteed.