Mr. Reich,

I respect your opinions and have read your blog posts regularly. I disagree with your assertion in today's article entitled "The Individual Mandate in the Health Care Bill: Let's Trade the Broccoli and Asparagus for Hot Dogs and Apple Pie", that the Social Security system is generally a "Popular" system. The term I would use to describe the relationship between SSI and the American public  is "ingrained". It is generational in nature.

SSI is misunderstood by some and tolerated by most. All Americans have a mandated, personal financial stake in the existence of the system, and that grows with age. So they are reticent to let anyone touch the "third rail". To use Social Security as an example of the American public's willingness to accept a mandate is fallacious. The original reason SSI was collected through the employer was two fold; to relieve enforcement responsibilities  from the Federal government concerning compliance, making the employer an un-reimbursed collector and making the transaction as invisible as possible to the average worker. To hide the pain; as it were. To the worker the premium nor the responsibility to pay it has ever existed. Neither is the worker fined for an employers disregard of his responsibility to comply.

The mandate to be enrolled in SSI has been tested in many ways over the years so I wouldn't burden you with any argument on that topic, it is institutionalized. But I do believe that any mandate to require that an individual purchase a private product falls far and away outside of the purview of the Congress.

I might stretch the bounds of reality and postulate that someday the Congress might use the same argument to force internet connectivity. But that would be silly.

I think you would agree that SSI is not a private product. 

I agree with you on one topic, that the only real answer to this dilemma would be to mix health care into the whole social platform that is SSI and Medicare. But we live in a much different generation than that of our fathers and people are less willing to accept these mandates from the government, no matter where they are hidden.

Respectfully Yours

JimmerSD