HALLELUAH!By Lea Abdnor

   This is a special day…a day that one of the candidates for President is being honest with the American public about entitlements.  Whatever else you may think of him, Fred Thompson has the courage to tell the truth about the tsunami of entitlements debt ahead of us and make it a priority to face and fix the problems.  Sen. Thompson specifically said that if elected, he intends to work in a bipartisan manner to fix Social Security.  HALLELUAH!!

   Two days earlier, Senator Clinton’s response to Social Security problems is that “she will protect the program through fiscal responsibility.”  Give me a break!

   Fix a 6 trillion dollar deficit (as calculated by the U.S. Comptroller General) through fiscal responsibility.  She is either ignorant of the problem, or trying to gloss over it without really taking responsibility.

   When in the Senate, Senator Thompson co-sponsored a bipartisan bill to fix Social Security.  At least then—and it seems now—he is willing to step up to the plate.  In the interest of full disclosure, it seems that Senator Brownback is also willing to deal with Social Security.  He’s an expert on the problem and is holding meetings on the subject in New Hampshire (I believe).

   Former Senator Gravel has also spoken up about the fact that there is no money in the SS Trust Fund and Congress continues to spend the excess.  Two long shots—Brownback and Gravel—and one of the leaders of the pack, Thompson, are speaking up.

   We can only hope that their courage to speak up is contagious!