TOM MAGUIRE IS DEEPLY UNIMPRESSED WITH BUSH’S SOCIAL SECURITY RHETORIC. Meanwhile, Nick Gillespie offers some advice on message:

The one powerful selling point to me about private accounts is that they might keep some money within families, to be passed down to kids or grandkids as an inheritance. I know from personal experience (or, rather, lack of personal experience) that an inheritance of even $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 at the right time in a young person’s life can make a huge difference in all sorts of ways, from clearing out debt to providing a car (and hence employment opportunities) to a down payment on a house, and more.

It seems to me the inheritance angle is the best way to sell any reform–and it should be, because that is the one that can actually change and improve people’s lives, which is really the point of the reform effort. Nobody cares that the system is going “broke”–there are always ways to “fix” that (and we will, through pushing back benefits most likely). The whole government, despite any recent surpluses, is impervious to accounting rigor and standards. Nobody seems interested in attacking the morality of a mandatory savings system, either.

But what I think most people can get around is that a system that allows people, especially lower-middle- and lower-class people to conserve some capital over time is a good thing, regardless of any other ideological/political affiliation. . . .

Oh, and it would help to offer some specifics.

Read the whole thing, especially if you’re Karl Rove.