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Social security reform --- a commitment to all generationsReform of the Social Security system is a public policy issue which must eventually be faced with realism. Future demographics indicate an approaching crisis in the decades ahead. The retirements of the "baby boomers" are expected to create a disproportion between beneficiaries of the system and a substantially reduced contributing work force. As a social welfare issue, Social Security evokes an ironic political response from the American electorate. The "New Deal" and the "Great Society" agendas may have fallen from grace, but Social Security enjoys wide popular support. Even at the high point of the reaction to "big government," politicians who tinkered with Social Security often did so by courting an election year disaster. The safety net of protective programs for the elderly generally has remained immune from criticism of the "government as a burden" rhetoric. In Catholic Social Teaching and Welfare Reform (1998), Jesuit Father Thomas Massaro locates the roots of the Social Security Act of 1935 in the changed consciousness produced by the climate of the Great Depression. Father Massaro, a moral theologian from the Weston School of Theology, judges that the economic disaster of the Depression era altered public awareness about poverty, perhaps more accurately about "impoverishment." To support his case, he identifies three factors which strongly influenced an alternative perspective on the situation. First, the Depression pointed up the structural causes of poverty .A personal work ethic did not save a large segment of responsible citizens from being thrown into destitution. The term "impoverishment" connotes that economic deprivation can be imposed by societal factors. In other words, people can be victimized by circumstances beyond their control. Poverty could be seen as a social condition that could not simplistically blamed on sloth, lack of incentive, or moral failure. Secondly, the widespread emergency conditions of the Depression era sparked a renewed sense of social solidarity .As a result, a "solidarity of emergency" solidified strong support for federal measures to promote the common good of the nation. This trend had counteracted the conventional bias of Americans for a laissez-faire economic and political outlook. Thirdly, as a social insurance program, Social Security reinforced a viable work ethic, one tied to the labor market, and operated according to contributory principles. Father Massaro describes the Social Security Act as "the centerpiece of the New Deal social legislation." The Administrative Board of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued "A Commitment to All Generations: Social Security and the Common Good" in May 1999. The statement summarizes principles from Catholic social teaching which construct a moral perspective for addressing Social security reform. It stresses that Social Security "reflects our commitment as a society to ensure a minimum level of security for all workers, their families, and persons with disabilities." The discussion and debate about Social Security reform cannot be reduced to a question of economics and politics to the exclusion of the moral dimension. The 1999 document from the U.S. C. C. B. makes reference to a prior statement published by the U.S.C.C. Administrative Board in March 1983. That earlier declaration acknowledged Social Security to be "an effective and dignified way for Americans to provide basic income security and medical insurance for the elderly, the disabled, and the dependent." For the historical record, the visionary "Program of Social Reconstruction" released by National War Council of the Catholic bishops in the U.S. in 1919 had advocated a government-supported "comprehensive social insurance to provide protection against old age, disability, and illness." In "A Commitment to All Generations," the bishops expressed a major concern about reform discussions, namely, the impact on the most vulnerable workers and their dependents. In this regard, the movement in favor of privatizing the Social Security program along the lines of a retirement investment program is particularly problematic. The 1999 statement emphasizes that society's most vulnerable citizens are "least likely to have other forms of financial security." "A Commitment to All Generations" distinguishes between the principles of Church teaching and public policy recommendations which concretely apply the principles and norms of social justice. Church social teaching sets forth moral values and principles for assessing societal institutions and public policies. By contrast, since public issues in the economic order are complex by nature, policy recommendations are open to discussion and debate. However, it is crucial that ongoing conversations about the public policy ramifications of Social Security Reform be carried on within the framework of consistent moral values and principles. In a summary observation, the U.S. bishops accentuate their confidence that the principles of Catholic social teaching can make a contribution "to the public dialogue on preserving our commitment to our children, our parents and ourselves through Social Security reform."
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