Leading the way on entitlement reform
August 9, 2007| By Nathaniel Ward
Last week, Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson attacked The Heritage Foundation and other organizations for being “timid” on federal spending issues. “For think-tank scholars, brutal candor might offend friends and political mentors,” he said. “For the ambitious, it might jeopardize future appointments to top government jobs.”
Nonsense, replies Heritage Vice President Stuart Butler in the same newspaper.
Samuelson’s column combines a cheap shot with a questionable strategy. Thinktankers shun controversial recommendations, he says, because we will offend our “political mentors” or miss out on juicy government jobs. That is palpably absurd. Heritage Foundation analysts aren’t looking for government jobs — we want to slash government jobs. And conservative think tanks bitterly attacked the huge Medicare drug entitlement in 2003, breaking with our friends in the administration and Congress — and with many major donors — who strongly supported the bill.
As Butler explains, Heritage has been a leader on spending reform. Working with other organizations, our experts have traveled the country with the Fiscal Wakeup Tour to draw attention to the tremendous threat to the economy posed by runaway spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
