"It's about the future, stupid"

We look to the future for our inspiration, they look to the past for theirs. They have the edge in the short run, but we will win in the long run because we put the future first. The Bushites have forfeited any moral basis even to discuss plans for this country’s future with their deficits, endless military adventures, and myopic energy policies. Where their plans were good, as with education, their execution was poor; meanwhile, instances of great execution, as with the military’s invasion of Iraq, have been sandwiched with poor planning. The Medicare prescription legislation and their prescribed changes to Social Security are two more cases in point.

My boomer generation stands for little except selfishness, so here's a selfish argument for us to consider: the time all America has to plan for is when the boomers are old, 2020-2050 (roughly). We have to give our children (or whoever it is who's going to be of a productive age then--immigrants, someone else's children, our grandchildren, etc.) a chance to work their butts off and keep us going then. There’s really not that much chance that, as a generation, we’re saving enough to take care of ourselves on our own resources.

The robust economy we will all need to have built by then is not facilitated by letting lobbyists draft legislation favorable to themselves, by squandering our resources, by subsidizing weak industries, nor by nurturing an underclass through affirmative action for the privileged; it is facilitated by building the infrastructure and fostering the conditions to allow the development of workers and industries capable and ready for fiercely competitive global markets.

(If that's what the intended consequences of the Bushite Social Security proposals are, then let's understand that now because I just don't see it. Instead, it looks like a money-grab with probable short- and long-term unfavorable outcomes for most Americans, and Bush is looking more like a car salesman with a defective product. )

Democrats made solid progress toward regaining the youth vote in 2004. In order to secure a dominant position as the party of today’s youth, and in order to continue to gain a majority share of tomorrow’s youth (the combination of which will prove a successful long-term strategy), we must filter all our policies through the prism of long-term viability.

The Bush administration’s policies threaten to steal vitality from the future and postpone critical progress. We can and must offer clear alternatives on national issues that will counter the course that’s set for the short run.