"In his State of the Union address last week, President Bush formally launched his campaign to transform Social Security by carving out private investment accounts from the guaranteed-benefit program for the elderly and disabled. In facing down the notorious “third rail” of American politics, Bush is taking on remarkably united Democratic opposition and restiveness within even his own party’s congressional conference. Among notable Republican dissenters: Charlottesville’s fifth-term Congressional representative, Virgil Goode.

“I’m negatively inclined towards private personal accounts,” Goode told C-Ville. “I think Social Security’s a good program and I want to see it preserved and protected.”

Goode says his view is based on media accounts of the president’s plan, and noted that the president “said he would consider other ideas.”

“I want to see all the details,” he says, emphasizing that he supports tax-sheltered retirement accounts apart from Social Security, including their expansion as part of Bush’s first-term tax-cut packages.

But on the concept of diverting payroll taxes into personal accounts, Goode is clear. “I do not favor private personal accounts taken out of employer and employee Social Security taxes that are supposed to go to the Social Security trust fund,” he says.

For a Democratic Party on its heels, and for a president sailing on a decisive victory in November’s high-turnout election, this centerpiece of Bush’s domestic agenda represents an existential struggle. Many GOP strategists see Social Security overhaul as key in setting the stage for Republican electoral victories to come and in advancing the party’s vision of small government.

But GOP fiscal conservatives caution against taking on trillions of dollars in debt in order to fund benefits for current retirees while tax revenues are diverted into private accounts. Others question the priority given to massively change a system that is projected to fully cover benefits for decades. In addition, one potential soft spot for Bush’s plan could be Republicans in largely blue-collar districts—like Virginia’s 5th District—where constituents are heavily dependent on Social Security.

Matt Smyth, director of communications at UVA’s Center for Politics, notes the sensitivity among Republicans to the potential political costs of the overhaul effort. Goode doesn’t appear vulnerable, Smyth says, but “I think he wants to let his constituents know he’s not just approaching it from a party line.”

Influential liberal blogger Joshua Marshall posted a constituent letter from Goode stating his inclination against private accounts on January 24. Marshall has been keeping a running tally of legislators who have publicly suggested they would likely break party ranks on the issue. Seventeen Republicans and nine Democrats were on his list by the end of last week.

But broader Republican anxiety has been widely reported. “I think there are a lot more that have concerns, and I think they’re voicing them in a lot of inter-party outlets, rather than publicly, because they’re in the president’s party,” Smyth says." (Harry Terris, C-Ville Weekly, February 8, 2005)