Tonight is the "First in the Fall" Presidential Debate...and S4 is taking part in a huge way!!
Not
only did we have a booth at the Pre-debate reception, a flyer in each
baggie that debate attendees received and a full page ad in the debate
program, but we ALSO had 150 students in S4 t-shirts in the audience.
We're hoping the candidates on stage notice the bright neon-lime green
t-shirts that say "New Hampshire cares about Social Security" while
they are standing behind those lovely little podiums. We are ALSO
hoping they talk about Social Security!
At
yesterday's "Take a Slice" event at the University of New Hampshire,
Senator Sam Brownback told us he wants to talk about Social Security
reform during tonight's debate. We applaud the Senator's solid stance
on reform and desire that ALL candidates will begin to talk more about
this issue!!
Stay tuned for all kinds of pictures and videos from the debate, press
filing room and spin room!
With
150+ students in neon-green Social Security t-shirts at last night's
debate - S4 got its message out loud and clear "our generation wants
Social Security reform and we want it now!" Above is a picture of S4's Grassroots and Public Relations Director Evan Dent with Governor Huckabee. See the rest of the debate pictures here!
Cameras were not
allowed inside the debate arena, but during a break in the debate,
Mayor Giuliani asked the students about their shirts. We let him know
that we are with S4 and want Social Security reform. He was delighted
that we were in favor of personal accounts and said to keep up the good
work.
In the Spin room afterwards S4 interviewed Governor Huckabee and Congressman Ron Paul. Stay tuned for the video interviews!
Senator Sam Brownback and Social Security expert Bill Shipman talked with Nashua New Hampshire residents Sept. 4th about the importance of Social Security reform.
S4 brought coffee for everyone that said "wake up to Social Security reform"
S4 held several events with Senator Sam Brownback in New Hampshire today. The Boston Herald reports (emphasis added):
Presidential hopeful Sam Brownback says Social Security should be a top priority of the campaign and is upset more candidates aren’t paying attention to it.
Brownback, a Republican senator from Kansas, is speaking to students at Saint Anselm’s College. He says more focus should be paid to Social Security and not inter-party squabbling.
Brownback says the system worked fine for older Americans. But the system "stinks" for his five children. The answer is options, which include private accounts.
Let's hope the other candidates get a chance to speak up on the issue during Wednesday's debate!
"The durability of the Bush agenda -- with its commitment to tax cuts, the Iraq war, and free-market solutions to healthcare and retirement -- is in part a tribute to the president's continued popularity among the Republican voters who matter most now, as the candidates head into the post-Labor Day sprint to the first primaries," writes Janet Hook in a Los Angeles Times article that looks at the policies of Republican presidential candidates.
There is truth to this, of course, but there is another reason why candidates are advancing policies of ownership and choice, and that is the strength of the policies themselves. On the issue of Social Security, in particular, a glance at the "solutions" offered by Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and most candidates on the other side of the aisle shows a tendency toward tax increases and benefit cuts, two options roundly rejected by our generation.
These alternatives to personal accounts are often left unmentioned, but they are the rock and hard place between which a successful candidate will navigate. Republican candidates are indeed staying the course on Social Security, and a more detailed policy discussion forced by the likes of Fred Thompson and Newt Gingrich might help more voters understand the logic behind personal ownership.
The Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel makes a great argument for why Republican presidential candidates should provide the details of how free market policies benefit women:
"The majority of health-care decisions are made by women, yet neither Rudy Giuliani nor Mitt Romney has explained how their innovative proposals to put individuals back in charge of care would help women in particular. No candidate has explained that only through private Social Security accounts will women ever see the full fruits of their payroll taxes."
There is a strong case to be made for the positive effects that personal accounts would have on the lives of women and minorities (as well as everyone else), and it would be to the advantage of one of the Republican candidates to make it.
The New Hampshire Presidential Watch blog makes it official: S4 has moved into the Granite State. (Our headquarters will still be located in Washington, D.C.)
"The group Students for Saving Social Security has formed in New Hampshire," they report. "The group has an office in New Hampshire and is planning to have chapters at every college in the state. They are also a sponsor of the upcoming Fox News/GOP debate on September 5th."
Stay tuned for more updates from NH, and be sure to email Jo Jensen (jo@secureourfuture.org) if you're interested in tickets to next week's Republican debate.
S4 is a co-sponsor of the FOX GOP Debates on September 5th. To RSVP for your free ticket email: Jo@secureourfuture.org. RSVP here at www.secureourfuture.org/rsvp Posted by Jo Jensen| Comments (3)
