Yes – Republicans do want to end Social Security and turn it into a private program.  LISTEN TO THE AUDIO in this link HERE; you’ll be able to hear Paul Ryan speaking to the Atlas Society in 2005.  The Atlas Society is an Ayn Rand fetish club that wishes to see America turned into Ayn Rand’s vision.  They hate Social Security because it redistributes wealth and Americans love it.  He believes Social Security is THE problem.

“If we do not succeed in switching these programs, in reforming these programs from what some people call a defined benefit system, to a defined contribution system– from switching these programs—and this is where I’m talking about health care, as well—from a third party or socialist based system to an individually owned, individually prefunded, individually directed system.”
~Paul Ryan

Notice in the clip above … how the audience laughs when Paul Ryan introduces the notion of “personalizing Social Security”.  It’s a big wink and the audience knows it.  In other words – we’re going to kill the socialist Social Security and people will be f-cked when they realize that “personalizing Social Security” really means privatizing it.  As in – you have yours and I have mine.  And that’s it.  That’s his entire vision.  And he shares that same vision for Medicare.

“And so when you take a look at where we are today, ah, some would say we’re on offense, some would say we’re on defense, I’d say it’s a little bit of both. And when you look at the twentieth-century experiment with collectivism—that Ayn Rand, more than anybody else, did such a good job of articulating the pitfalls of statism and collectivism—you can’t find another thinker or writer who did a better job of describing and laying out the moral case for capitalism than Ayn Rand.”
~Paul Ryan

This audio comes courtesy of American Magazine HERE.  They recap the audio and provide a transcript; their thoughts:

For Ryan “defined benefit” programs such as Social Security and Medicare are problems in themselves.  This isn’t something he saves for gatherings of the Ayn Rand Society, such concerns about “dependency” are scattered throughout his Path to Prosperity—again hidden in plain sight.  This transcript doesn’t so much reveal a secret, as highlight a clear theme in his policy rationale that is always present, but in more public settings subordinated to his prophecies of fiscal apocalypse.  Thus, it is no surprise his budget cuts the safety net and radically reshapes Medicare first and addresses the deficit later.

In the published transcript Ryan states that like Rand, he views all political and policy questions as battle between individualism and collectivism.

As we have already written HERE and most people seem to forget this – Republicans actually voted to privatize Social Security LAST YEAR.  It’s called the 2011 House Republican budget formerly known as the Ryan Plan.  That’s a fact.  And not one Democrat voted for it.

This is a consistent pattern for Paul Ryan who believes in his gut that Social Security should be privatized.  In 2005 – Paul Ryan was the co-sponsor of the bill that would have privatized Social Security.

As we have shown HERE - Paul Ryan tried to privatize Social Security in 2005 and a majority of Republicans supported this plan.  My summary of that plan:

Paul Ryan was one of two people to sponsor the privatization of Social Security in the failed attempt under the Bush administration.  It would have a hidden tax on middle class workers and by forcing the SSA Trustees to invest in stocks …. anyone who owned stocks would see HUGE windfalls in their wealth.

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