For my 100th blog post, I decided to let you in on how the Republicans can create a strategy that will improve our system and economy, resonate with voters, and defend against Democrats. It all comes down to one thing, giving citizens options.
I love having options, it is essentially a form of freedom. I believe Republicans need to develop programs where people can choose between the current system and a new system. Giving citizens the option between old and new eliminates the fear of the new. Further, Democrat’s entire election campaign is around generating a fear of the Republicans. For example, they have commercials of a Paul Ryan looking figure pushing granny off the cliff. Just this past weekend, David Axelrod labeled Republicans a “reign of terror.”
I want to give a you few examples of options:
- Social Security –> the Chilean model essentially privatizes gains and socializes loses. Basically, people would be given the option to stay with the current system or invest a portion of their social security dollars (instead of paying the full tax) to a private investment. If the private investment does not meet the payout they would have received with the government social security check, they are paid the difference by the government. It benefits the citizen because people typically get paid more privately than with social security, less money is paid out to citizens because their investments worked, preventing the system from going bankrupt, and there are still people paying in for those who want to stay on today’s version of social security.
- Medicare –> Did you know it is cheaper for us to pay citizens about $15,000/yr. for them to get their own private insurance than it is for them to be on medicare? If we give people the option to do the private version, we would save money, even if only 10% did it. Further, insurance is all about risk for the insurance companies. If they have a larger pool of people paying in, it reduces the risk for them, increasing their ability to make insurance more affordable..
- Tax Code –> What if we had the ability to choose between the current tax code and paying a straight 20% of earned income without any deductions? If I had the option of paying a straight 20% instead of going through the confusion of our current model, I’d probably choose the easy path.
Obviously, the examples I gave are extremely complicated. However, I wanted to illustrate some ways that we could create platforms that provide options.
I believe Republicans are trying to convince the American people that we need massive changes. However, people do not like change, especially big change. The public opinion of an entire nation cannot turn like a speed boat, it is more like a massive air craft carrier that takes miles to slowly turn around. By offering options, it allows people time to get comfortable with big ideas. The great thing about the private options presented is they will naturally become popular because they will typically put more money in people’s pockets.
Romney and Republicans need to market options more than the big ideas. They need to tell Democrats, “If you like the current system, keep it. Meanwhile, us 50% of Americans (the Republicans) will take the private options, make more money, and help cut the national budget. You’re welcome Democrats…you’re welcome!”
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