On Monday, the war for America’s hearts and minds over the issue of Social Security privatization began with a small Internet ad. On the left, a picture of a soldier is emblazoned with a red “x;” to the right a gay couple kissing is endorsed by a green check. The caption reads, in bold, “The REAL AARP Agenda” and invites readers to click for more details. The ad is nonsense at best and slander at worst. The link points to the homepage of the United Seniors Association Next, which doesn’t mention the military or gay marriage but instead Social Security. Unfortunately, this kind of disingenuous participation in public debate is becoming a standard, and one we would do well to eliminate.
USA Next is a conservative lobbying group thinly disguised as an alternative to the American Association of Retired People (AARP). USA Next supports President Bush’s plans for Social Security reform, and is rolling out a new ad campaign attacking the AARP for opposing privatization of Social Security accounts. Chris LaCivita, Rick Reed, Creative Response Concepts and Regnery Publishing, who organized the desperate lies and banal character attacks we saw from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 Presidential election, are all working on the new campaign for USA Next. Are we now going to have to experience the same filthy political spin machine for every election and every issue?
The political process was not meant to function this way. To many, USA Next appears to be little more than a slush fund for wealthy conservative donors. The organization has no age limits, unlike the AARP, and has an annual budget of just over $28 million, $10 million of which they plan to spend on advertising. The United Seniors Association, its parent organization, listed zero membership contributions in 2004 but managed to run attack ads against Democrats with a $14 million educational grant from the pharmaceutical industry. Nonetheless, the AARP is remarkably coolheaded.
“I’m not concerned if USA Next spends $10 million or the full $28 million,” Dr. Joanne Disch, AARP board member, said. The AARP’s actions match their words: though they control an annual budget of approximately $620 million, they have spent only $10 million this year preemptively fighting privatization proposals, and none of it went towards slander. The goal of these ads has been to focus on the AARP’s commitment to Social Security solvency for future generations.
The actions of USA Next and the advisors driving the organization in their attack on the AARP are despicable and fail to approach actual issues. All are welcome to join the political debate in a democracy, but USA Next is little more than an excuse for high-powered Republican donors and the pharmaceutical industry to pollute public debate with attacks against the most powerful lobby that seniors have to fight for them-an organization that at least sticks to the facts.
