So a couple of things bothered me about a recent Zogby Poll [RealVideo] on Social Security that Cato commissioned. The first is that we see two pretty clear results: people under 55 are overwhelmingly in support of partial privatiz… whoops, sorry, there might be Republicans with weak hearts reading… “personal accounts.” But those over 55 — the people with nothing better to do than vote, and indeed, vote on this issue — are massively against it. Except that, of course, under every proposal being seriously considered, those are precisely the people not affected at all by reform. Yeah, the D’s are to blame for mounting a scare campaign, but you’d think that a demographic for which this is supposed to be the most salient issue could be bothered to, you know, actually look at the reform plans. Boomers and their elders love to wring their hands over the ways in which the younger generation is going to hell, but there’s supposed to be something vaguely blasphemous about turning the same scrutiny on senior citizens. Well, listen carefully elderly America: your priorities are massively screwed up. That a majority of you apparently think nothing of condemning entire generations by blocking reform, when your right to leech from our paychecks isn’t even in jeopardy, betrays a grotesque and immoral indifference to the public good. If you can’t trouble yourself to understand the issues, stay the hell out of the voting booth.

The other, possibly even more troubling, aspect of the study is that on many questions, people under 25 (my very own age cohort) tend to track the positions of the over-50 crowd more closely than those of the relatively cohesive and sane 25-55 blocks. Now, the retirees I understand. They’re cynically and selfishly voting on what they believe to be their own interests, even if they grossly misperceive those interests. But what explains Gen-Y? Can it be that they’ve actually bought the same propaganda designed to bamboozle the seniors? Apparently. Looks like this is what happens to people’s brains when you replace Nirvana with Brittney Spears. Well, OK, everyone in my demographic — yeah, all of you — you’re assigned to come out to Cato’s “Social Security and Young Americans” conference series this month.You’ll thank me when you’re 70 and can afford Fancy Feast instead of Purina.