Bush’s campaign to privatize Social Security appears to be dead. Bush himself was wounded by it.

But wounded is not enough. Democrats should finish the job. They have the weapon they need:

The President publicly admitted his intention to strip Baby Boomers of some $5 trillion they will amass in their joint retirement plan.

He publicly stated his intent to default on the Treasury bonds held by the Social Security Trust Fund.

Senator John Heinz once called what Bush wants to do “embezzlement.” Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan called it “theft.” Both words are justified. What Bush proposed is a felony.

Bush: “There is no trust.” Following the ‘05 State of the Union speech, Bush fired out of the gate to stump for his “Social Security reform.” His hair was on fire. Social Security is in crisis, he warned. We must deal with the crisis now! Social Security is going under! As for the Trust Fund--that “pile of money” you hear about? It doesn’t exist! It’s just a pile of IOUs! The cupboard is bare! “There is no trust!” he railed.

All of which was utter bullshit.

A Quick History: SSTF for Dummies Remember Al Gore’s 2000 debating points about a “Lock Box”? Embarrassing, right? Except that once again, insufferable Ozone Man, the laughable “inventor of the internet,” happened to be right.

What Gore wanted locked up was the Social Security Trust Fund. SSTF was created back in 1983. Alan Greenspan headed a task force to put Social Security on solid footing. The task force greatly increased the FICA tax, which funds Social Security. A surplus began to build up.

From the start Reaganites used the Social Security surplus to disguise their budget deficits. But at least they didn’t pretend the Trust Fund didn’t exist, and later Democrats succeeded, at great political peril, in wiping out the deficit altogether. Until W. came along.

Now it’s Time for a Nice Homey Analogy. For 18 years, Grandpa has been making monthly payments into a fund he set up to pay for grandchild Sue’s college education. The fund is managed by Sue’s dad.

But on the advice of his accountants, Dad treats the fund as “just an accounting mechanism.” He deposits Grandpa’s checks in his own account. He even uses some of the money to buy a Hummer.

Worse, after he makes some bad business decisions, Dad has to slash his own income. Now he’s using Grandpa’s checks to help pay living expenses. He writes IOUs to Grandpa and stuffs them in a drawer.

This spring Sue is accepted at Yale. Dad tells Grandpa he can’t swing the tuition. Grandpa says, “Use Sue’s trust fund—that’s what it’s for.” Dad says: “There is no trust. There’s just a bunch of IOUs.”

What Dad did, Bush wants to do. He can’t be allowed to get away with it.

So What Should Democrats Do? Glad you asked. Democrats should do five things:

1) Make an unequivocal pledge to honor every penny in SSTF, and every penny of interest owed on it. Challenge Republicans to join them in that oath. If they won’t, crucify them.

2) Make an unequivocal pledge to maintain old age benefits at their current level and again, challenge Republicans to join them in that oath. As other sources of retirement income shrink and vanish, this promise becomes a matter of life and death for old folks!

3) Demand the end to the “unified budget” hoax which allows the White House to understate the actual deficit by upwards of $200 billion dollars every year.

4) Abolish the cap which shelters income above roughly $90,000 from the FICA tax.

5) Reconvene a Greenspan Commission (sans the lugubrious Alan himself) on the 25th anniversary of the original. In 2008 real problems will still be decades away, but at least we’ll be able to make more reliable projections, and get a better sense if mid-course corrections may be required. (They probably won’t be.)