CHICAGO, May 4 (UPI) -- The future of Social Security -- whether there will be private accounts for younger workers or whether the retirement system stays essentially the same -- may be decided on the Internet.
White House adviser Karl Rove said in a recent conference call that Internet lobbying by young grassroots Republicans will make or break the Bush administration's proposals to revamp the pension program, just as the technology helped get out the vote last fall during the presidential campaign.
Consultants and other government experts told UPI's The Web the Internet previously has not been used successfully to change a major federal policy, but it has proven successful in raising awareness of some issues for federal, state and local lawmakers.
"If the grassroots are heard from on this, there will be change," Rove said. "If not, we will not have change. The use of the Internet and of other, creative ideas, will make this message heard."
The conference call for reporters was sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform, an activist group in Washington, D.C.
Rove said by 2017, the amount of money paid into the U.S. Treasury by workers for Social Security will be less than the amount owed to retirees. "By mid-century, people paying into the system will get a negative rate of return," he said.
Many groups already are using the Internet to talk about Social Security reform so lobbying Congress via e-mail is a sensible step for activists, experts said.
"It is less costly than direct mail or even mailing to semi-interested parties," said Dave Smith, a principal at New Jersey's largest lobbying firm, Princeton Public Affairs Group.
The technology also can be used to develop customized databases "for future e-mail calls to action," Smith said.
Those skilled in visual software, such as Poser 6, from Curious Labs in Santa Cruz., Calif., can design communications for Windows 2000/XP and Mac OS X to send messages with photo-realistic textures, image-based lighting and other effects.
Members of Congress and senators are accustomed to receiving e-mail these days, so activists are going to have to include additional information to be taken seriously.
"Your e-mail must include your regular, U.S. mail address," said Amy Showalter, president of The Showalter Group Inc., a political consulting firm in Cincinnati. "Many legislators, especially at the federal level, still respond via snail mail."
Showalter said the communications must be personalized to be read.
"Staff can recognize form e-mail, just like they recognize form letters. The ubiquitous Web sites where you can 'click here' to send an e-mail are nothing more than pre-produced form letters, and are counted by staff but are not taken as seriously as a well thought-out communication that took more than 60 seconds to send."
There are limits to what e-mail messages can accomplish, however, she said.
"It can put an issue on your legislator's radar, open doors to more personal access, and the volume of e-mail may be used to garner public support for your cause."
Experts said public comments by e-mail to federal agencies are proving effective.
"A broader, more diverse set of comments results" from the Internet, said Grant Reeher, an associate professor of political science at Syracuse University in New York.
On the federal level, activists opposed to sport-utility vehicles have made themselves heard via the Internet, Reeher said.
Also on the federal level, the Internet has been valuable in raising awareness of the immune disease psoriasis.
"I believe the Internet is an effective, low-cost way to show members of Congress that their constituents care about an issue," said Michael Paranzino, a spokesman for Psoriasis Cure Now!, a non-profit group in Kensington, Md.
"In our case, the psoriasis community is trying to break into Congress for the first time in recent memory, using Web tools to have psoriasis patients write their lawmakers. We are forcing every congressional office, for the first time in years, to figure out what psoriasis is and how to respond to constituents writing in about it," Paranzino said.
Local activists in Columbus, Ohio, are using the Web to lobby the state's congressional delegation to save a local military base, and have launched a Web site, teamdscc.com, for the effort.
"It's a good way to show public officials that a critical mass of people feel one way or another on an issue," said Mark J. Grossman, a former aide to Mario Cuomo, and the principal of Grossman Strategies in Bohemia, N.Y.
Experts describe these changes being wrought online as the development of "process networks," which enable people from many different locales to collaborate with far-flung partners.
"The Internet will do much more," wrote John Hagel and John Seely Brown, co-authors of the newly published book, "The Only Sustainable Edge" (Harvard Business Press, 2005), in an e-mail. "With its help, global process networks will evolve well beyond orchestration of existing resources. They will become distributed innovation networks."
Republicans are not alone in using the Internet in the debate over Social Security reform -- Democrats are doing it, too. An e-mail from the Democratic National Committee to The Web claimed plans to index the pension plan "would dramatically cut hard-earned, guaranteed retirement benefits for middle class Americans. It would gut Social Security and unravel what has been the most successful program of its kind."
The issue of Social Security reform already has gained a high profile among voters. An online survey of 1,032 small-business leaders -- taken by Internet-hosting service Interland in Atlanta, to be released soon -- indicates 43 percent of small-business owners think the Social Security system is "in crisis and needs to be fixed now," said Mike Neumeier, a spokesman for Interland.
He added, "52 percent say Congress will not pass major Social Security reform in 2005 or 2006."
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Gene J. Koprowski is a 2005 Winner of a Lilly Endowment Award for his columns for United Press International. He covers telecommunications for UPI Science News. E-mail: [email protected]
