Documents

Documents Index  Home  Press  Join!

Resolution Adopted by
The Labor Party's
First Constitutional Convention

Protect
Social Security

WHEREAS, Social Security is this nation’s most successful social program and is the foundation of retirement income for millions of American workers and their families; and

WHEREAS, Social Security has been the principal insurance against impoverishment due to death and disability and it provides the elderly the financial means to live their last years with dignity and independence; and

WHEREAS, Social Security currently offers a range of protections — progressive benefits formula, dependents’ benefits, lifetime benefits, and inflation adjustments — that are of great importance to the elderly, the disabled and their children and surviving spouses and their children; and

WHEREAS the system is completely sound for the next 50 years and minor modifications can make it sound for the next 75 years, the long-term financial challenges to the Social Security program are modest and do not require radical or risky reform measures; and

WHEREAS President Clinton, Congress, and Wall Street are calling for privatization of Social Security and a bipartisan effort to partially privatize Social Security would be tantamount to construction of a Trojan horse that will penetrate the Social Security system and ultimately undermine it;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the First Constitutional Convention of the Labor Party oppose all efforts to privatize Social Security in any manner; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Labor Party oppose any effort to cut benefits or increase eligibility thresholds and the Labor Party oppose any effort to use trust fund surpluses for any tax cut;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Labor Party support examining increases in employers’ tax rates and eliminating the payroll tax earning cap as the only acceptable method to improve the Social Security system, provide a guaranteed living income and insure the long-term financial viability of Social Security; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Labor Party wage a vigorous campaign of public hearings and education among our constituent bodies and an intensive training developed by our party and that our education campaign be extended to the community at large.