Sunday, March 20, 2005

It All Started When Hitler Privatized the German Retirement System

One of my good friends was in town over the weekend and we did the monument tour on the Mall. The first thing that greeted us before we began the tour was a table set up by supporters of Lyndon LaRouche. For those of you who do not know, Lyndon LaRouche is a man who has ran for President 8 times. Politically, he is considered far, far to left. He is also paranoid. For example, he has accused American, Soviet and British intelligence agencies, of sending brainwashed zombies to assassinate him for three decades (Apparently, brainwashed zombies are not effective assassins). Even though LaRouche is a fringe political figure, he has a cultish following amongst his supporters.

I was amused as people came by and kicked over their signs and some argued with LaRouche supporters including my friend. After quickly realizing that trying to argue with a LaRouche supporter is pointless, we began to walk away, and as we walked away, the LaRouche supporter handed us a magazine from the LaRouche PAC. On the cover of this magazine was this: "Bush's Social Security Fraud-Stop George Schultz's Drive to Fascism!" I have heard all kinds of arguments on why George Bush's privatization plan is bad. It's too risky. It's too costly. It won't help Social Security's long-term solvency. I have never heard the argument that privatizing Social Security is a step towards fascism. If only the Democrats knew this, then Bush's plan wouldn't have a prayer.