THE PLANTATION THEORY: It is time to retire a dumb idea and the rhetoric that goes with it.

Williamson's 'risk' argument is, I think, a valid one. Not too long ago I had an email 'conversation' with a 'Social Security Defender' over at the Daily Kos website. In every email exchange, data was met with the emotional objection "that's too risky".

In progressive circles, emotion apparently trumps all data.