You’re too stupid to manage your own money

Ferraro reveals the real reason behind Democrats’ resistance to Social Security reform

Courtesy of Larry Elder:

Now, Americans possess the ability to make the money. Ferraro’s comments parallel the Americans-are-too-stupid theme embraced by former President Bill Clinton. Speaking in 1999 about the $70 billion budget surplus, Clinton said, ‘We could give it all back to you and hope you spend it right. . . . Do you really want to run the risk of squandering this surplus?’

Congress never intended for Social Security to grow into something on which people solely relied for their retirement. Even its patriarch, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, said, ‘We shall make the most lasting progress if we recognize that Social Security can furnish only a base upon which each one of our citizens may build his individual security through his own individual efforts.’ But decade after decade, both Republicans and Democrats kept adding to the program, making it increasingly more generous, much to the delight of the ever-motivated older voter.”

Geraldine Ferraro’s actual quote was, “if you don’t have the knowledge and the wherewithal to manage your own private funds, well, you know, you’re gonna be out of luck.”

Now is that a harmless quote taken out of context? I don’t think so. This is the same mentality expressed by Hillary Clinton in San Francisco some months earlier, and it’s sad to see this idea that we – as Americans – are not intelligent enough to save for our own future, or worse yet the goverment should be doing this on our behalf.

There’s a variety of names for this. Socialism, nannyism, intellectual snobbery – you name it. Ferraro’s comments speak for themselves.