Some of the seeds of Social Security were sown by the people of Louisiana themselves. In 1934, Sen. Huey P. Long introduced his plan to make "Every Man a King." In expressing his intent to provide a $30 pension to everyone over 60, he said, "something must be done for our old people who work out their lives, feed and clothe their children, and are left penniless in their declining years." And so, spurred on by citizens right here in Louisiana, he planted the seeds for Social Security in fertile soil of a nation desperate for certainty, weary of risk, and in great need of economic reform.

The president has described Social Security as "flat bust" and "bankrupt." But that is not what the Congressional Budget Office or the Board of Trustees for Social Security tells us. According to a nonpartisan group of CBO economic analysts, the system as it is will remain solvent for 47 years into the future -- when President Bush will be 106 years old.

There is a problem on the horizon, however, and the beneficial part of the president's call for privatization is that it has riveted the nation's attention on Social Security at a time when incremental steps taken today could have significant payoffs in the future. But the president's plan is too narrowly focused and creates too much risk by betting hard-earned savings on an ever-changing stock market when we should be working to add certainty and stability to the system.

We in Louisiana understand strong retirement security. In this state 125,000 retirees receive benefits from one of our 20 public retirement systems, separate and apart from Social Security. This year alone, 2.8 million workers in our state will make investments in their future through Social Security contributions, private pension plans, public pension plans and private options involving 401(k)s or IRAs. We know that we must expand opportunities for retirement saving, but we must not undermine this worthy effort with a flawed privatization scheme that takes the "security" out of "Social Security."

We should instead follow the example of President Reagan and Senators Dole and Moynihan in 1983. With a few adjustments, and by putting the certainty and stability of the system ahead of radical change, they were able to not only save the program, but to generate surpluses that continue to this day.

In the words of the grand architect of the Social Security program, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, "We have come a long way. But we still have a long way to go."