If they have the nerve, the republicans could not only parry ever one of the democrat's charges, lies, and scare stories, they could come out way on top. They could probably even win back the Senate and guarantee the 2004 elections as well. As it is, they have a good chance of losing it all.

The truth is going to come out anyway. Much of it was already the talk of the town before September eleventh. The clues are already there. The people just haven't put it all together yet. The republicans might as well take credit for clearing the air, become heroes, and lead the way to meaningful reform.

What will it take?

Give the democrats enough rope to hang themselves. Let them come out with all of their phony arguments about privatization, Enron, Bush's tax cuts, and raiding the Social Security trust funds just as they are starting to do already. After all, they chose to make Social Security an issue, telling everyone that they are "the people party" and the only ones responsible for Social Security. To take this away from them, the republicans must do the following:

1 – Make it very clear that reform deals with solely the surplus. That it has to do only with the extra money payroll taxes are generating at more than a hundred billion per year. Money that the Social Security Administration does not need in order to meet its obligations to the retired and disabled. Surplus money that has been increasing year by year until it has reached today's phenomenal multiples. Quote figures from past years. So far, this has not been made clear to people.

2 – Admit that the government takes this entire surplus, every cent of it, and spends that money on things other than Social Security. That the money is spent almost as fast as it comes into the Treasury. No waiting. No hesitation. No deliberation. It has been planned years in advance in annual budgets. If you must, explain the process from budget, finance, tax, and other committees of Congress with the help of estimates and forecasts from the CBO, GAO, and OMB devoting much of their time to predicting these amounts. There is no sudden decision to "raid" Social Security and politicians claiming to "preserve" these funds are lying through their teeth. Use tables from the bank, the Treasury, to back up your argument. These are not estimates, such tables are history. The trust fund never holds any money or liquid assets.

3 – How did the Social Security trust fund ever become more than 20 percent of the national debt? Make democrats explain this. It will bring out and expose the entire "borrowing" and "Intragovernmental Holdings" game you've been playing at the expense of the American worker's retirement and health care. Stand by with quotes, personal appearances, and more statements from Paul O'Neill, Secretary of the Treasury, Mitch Daniels of the Government Accounting Office (GAO), and more recently June O'Neill, the former director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) who have all told us that there is nothing in the trust funds but debt. Even from their own ex-president Bill Clinton who in the Analytical Perspectives section of his 1998 budget claimed that the Social Security trust fund was merely a "bookkeeping effort" and demand on future taxes. All of this was general news shortly before September eleventh. And it completely refutes any "intentions" to "raid" the Social Security trust funds. How can you raid debt?

4 – Real trust funds are already lock-boxes. At any time, the government could have put any entitlement surpluses in a real trust fund with no "transition" costs. It did not. One result, was the clamor for lock-boxes, all of which died in the hands of the democrats.

5 – The federal government has at least 14 real trust funds. The Thrift Savings Plan for federal employee retirement is the largest. If the democrats were truly concerned about privatization or investment in the stock market causing an Enron debacle for Social Security, they would be crying bloody murder to change the Thrift Savings Plan. This plan is returning a ten-year average of 17 percent on investment.

If this isn't enough to turn the tables on the democrats and put us on the road to a healthy recovery, then there's something wrong with your presentation.

The sad thing is that either party could do it. The lucky ring is going to go to the party that becomes honest first. We in the public are getting thoroughly worn out by the baloney surrounding Social Security, including the baby-boomer scare story. Still, we admire and respect honest confessions, contrition, and promises to reform as long as they're carried out wisely.