Memo to Karl Rove

From Edward H. Crane, president of the Cato Institute:

Bob Novak, writing about Terry Schiavo last month, inadvertently summed up the problem with the administration's Social Security reform strategy when he wrote, "This is not the cold, analytical debate over Social Security." Just so. If you're wondering why there's so little grass-roots support to date for the president's plan, it's because the focus has been on green-eyeshade issues such as solvency, transition costs, unfunded liabilities and rates of return. Actuaries to the barricades!

Seriously, this should be an emotional issue about liberty and opportunity, not solvency dates. The concept of an Ownership Society is brilliant. Unlike the New Deal, the New Frontier or the Great Society, Ownership Society actually means something integral to the essence of America. That essence is a respect for the dignity of the individual, which is axiomatically enhanced when one has more control over one's life. That is what personal accounts provide.