W' hat we have here is a failure to communicate."
Those classic words were spoken by the actor Strother Martin in
the film "Cool Hand Luke." But failure to communicate
is not something that Queens native Larry Ward is likely to be
guilty of. President of Interactive Political Media, he is one of
the most sought-after Internet marketing professionals on the
East Coast.
Thanks to Mr. Ward and his company, which he operates with
partner Alan Skorski, we're able to catch the Yankees on
Cablevision. Remember that flap a while ago when George
Steinbrenner and Cablevision were at war over carrying the YES
network on Cablevision? For a full year, the New York Yankees and
New Jersey Nets could not be seen on Cablevision, and it appeared
that the blackout would continue. Then a New Jersey assemblyman
wrote a bill claiming Cablevision was breaking antitrust laws by
blocking the new network. The bill had very little chance of
passing - until IPM sent an e-mail on behalf of YES, which
allowed a response to go directly to the New Jersey Assembly.
Soon, 25,000 e-mail messages from New Jersey residents in support
of the bill were delivered to every member of the Assembly, and
the bill passed overwhelmingly.
IPM was also responsible for getting out the vote during the Bush
re-election campaign, by blasting more than 50 million e-mail
messages into cyberspace. Working with 527 organizations, IPM was
able to reach out to everyday Americans and engage them in the
election debate.
But the greatest test of Larry Ward's ability to communicate
messages using IPM's unique Internet connection services will
likely be the debate on Social Security reform.
IPM has teamed up with Jack Kemp, who is co-chairman of Alliance
for Retirement Prosperity (www.arpnow.org). In the short time I
sat with Mr. Ward listening to the goal of ARP and how vital it
is to mount an aggressive search for options to save Social
Security, I finally saw some hope for addressing an issue that
was just too politically hazardous for most office-holders even
to consider until now.
Many Americans my age simply do not believe that Social Security
will be there for us when we become eligible within the next
decade. The hard fact is that if something isn't done soon,
Social Security commitments will exceed revenues by 2018 and the
system will be bankrupt by 2042. The battle being waged now about
reform seems to pit senior citizens against their children and
grandchildren. This is totally unnecessary, because there is no
reason for senior citizens to fear reform.
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Senator Sununu of New Hampshire
have introduced innovative legislation creating large personal
retirement accounts, or PRAs, which provide a reasonable solution
to the problem. It will satisfy everyone except those politicians
who want to continue pillaging the Social Security trust fund to
finance their own projects. Unfortunately, invoke the word
"privatization" and citizens are likely to envision
catastrophic changes resulting in the loss of their retirement
security.
Instead of privatization, Mr. Ward says, we should be viewing
changes as modernization. If the bill is enacted, we will be able
to place a portion of our payroll taxes into PRAs, which would be
invested in the private sector. The important thing to remember
is that we are guaranteed to receive at least the amount we would
have under the old plan. We also have the opportunity to grow
money, depending on the type of investment we choose - that is,
high-risk or low-risk investments.
The other important change is that we will own the account and
can pass it on to our beneficiaries. That's something we cannot
do now.
It seems to me that all around it's a win-win situation, and I
asked Larry Ward why anyone would object to this necessary reform
of this increasingly endangered system. Congress would lose
control of the Social Security trust fund, he answered, and
that's why the current administration will have an uphill battle
trying to get reform legislation through, unless all Americans
get involved. Larry Ward is much better at getting the message
out to the public, and I hope the radio and cable networks will
discover why Mr. Kemp chose to team up with IPM. Senior citizens
are the fastest-growing group of new computer owners and will now
have access to information on Social Security reform unfiltered
by special political interests.
"People's lives and security are at stake," Mr. Kemp
said in a press release. "The only way we are going to
engage people in the debate is to change the way we communicate
the message."
Failure to communicate is not an option.