Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005 | 9:08 a.m.
Brian Greenspun's well-written commentary on Sunday, headlined "Preserve the safety net," avoids one harsh reality, that the only difference between President Bush's personal-account proposal for altering Social Security and the Democratic "third rail of politics" (i.e., "Don't touch, do nothing") approach is that the dreaded "bread lines" might occur earlier under the president's plan.
Make no mistake, bread lines are inevitable in either case unless something is accomplished.
It seems to me that the president at least wants to tackle the problem, while Democrats can't get over the powerful and growing (here come the boomers) AARP political advantage to do anything remotely responsible.
My greatest hope is that our sensible Sen. Harry Reid recognizes this fact and works with the president on a compromise to achieve major change.
Personally, I like Bush's idea. I would, however, have exempted those 45 and older rather than 55 and older. The paradigm would thus be changed and our politicos would be faced with fixing that which needs fixing.
WILLIAM BURRUS
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