[GulliverSwift]

I predict that in the future the entire Medicare and Social Security programs will have to be scrapped and that people will have to move to paying for their own retirement and their own medicine, kind of like they do with auto, life, and home insurance.

The role of government in the technology age will be to facilitate choices--where to school your children, how to pay for your medicine, what kind of taxes to pay (i.e. nat'l consumption tax).

The repeated failures of socialisitic policies will come home to the citizens of this country just as the Euroweenies are starting to face the consequences of their idiotic welfare states.

[untwist]

I think you're right and I think that more elderly than we think will support privatization. I remember Perot's campaign in '92 and the excitement he generated over the size of the debt and the incredible impact of that on the elderly's children and grandchildren. This resonated with many - my parents included. You need somebody with a rational approach, like Bush, to begin the ball rolling, even if it costs in the short term. Long term the prospects will be far more positive.