Social Security Resolution

I wish to thank Captain Har for the permission to publish this resolution here. I also wish to thank the Trenton, New Jersey East Ward Democratic Club for drafting this resolution and I hope that it's principles carry onward to other such organizations.

The Voice of Democracy in Trenton’s East Ward

Resolution on Social Security


Whereas, the Social Security system guarantees to all Americans a safe and secure base pension for retirement, which many Americans supplement with a variety of pensions and investment income, as well as disability and death benefits; and

Whereas, all Americans need the rock-solid assurance of a stable base pension, which Social Security uniquely guarantees, and many Americans have neither the time nor the investment expertise to gamble on riskier strategies; and

Whereas, the Social Security system has virtually eliminated poverty among America’s elderly, and its progressive character provides working Americans of median incomes and below with better benefits and far more security than they could expect from private systems—which is one reason that many of the privileged have opposed Social Security since Franklin Roosevelt’s day; and

Whereas, the Federal government currently provides large tax subsidies for private pensions, individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans, and the like, for the many Americans who wish to avail themselves of such options on top of the Social Security cornerstone; and

Whereas, Social Security’s financing was “pay-as-you-go” until the Reagan administration, when a steep hike in Social Security payroll taxes was imposed to create a “trust fund” of national savings for Social Security; and

Whereas, the savings stored up in the trust fund have generated major surpluses that have been invested in U.S. Treasury bills, historically the most secure investment; and

Whereas, Americans’ savings in the Social Security trust fund will assure them full payment of their benefits at least through the middle of this century—or, with improved economic growth, through its end—and any shortfall in mid-century would be slight and easily covered by financing adjustments; and

Recognizing that President Bush and his backers, whose reckless fiscal mismanagement has created staggering deficits in the regular federal budget that will take generations to pay off, have zero credibility in pretending they feel urgent concern about a possible tiny shortfall in the Social Security trust fund a half century from now; and

Concluding that the Bush Administration’s drive to privatize Social Security -- diverting Social Security payroll taxes into private investment accounts, which risk leaving many “beneficiaries” with nothing, and cutting benefit levels for countless current workers – has nothing to do with fiscal solvency and is simply an ideologically fundamentalist crusade by Bush conservatives;


Therefore, the East Ward Democratic Club of Trenton:

1. Vigorously opposes any revision to the Social Security law that tampers with its character as a safe and secure cornerstone of all Americans’ retirement;

2. Exhorts the Bush administration and Congress to devote themselves to getting the federal budget back in balance before it starts experimenting with risky schemes for Americans’ long-term retirement future;

3. Calls on New Jersey’s two United States senators, Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg, the two United States representatives whose districts include Trenton, Christopher Smith and Rush Holt, and the rest of the New Jersey congressional delegation, to reject any privatization of Social Security or benefit reductions whatsoever;

4. Urges the New Jersey Legislature and the Mercer County Board of Freeholders to adopt resolutions opposing any privatization or benefit reductions in the Social Security system; and

5. Directs the officers of the Club to provide copies of this resolution to the congressional delegation, members of the Legislature from Mercer County and the president of the Board of Freeholders, to senior-citizen organizations in the Trenton area, and to area news media.

Adopted, 10 January 2005