We/ve been flooded in recent days with letters from readers worried about President Bush/s proposal to reform the Social Security program. The themes seem fairly universal:

n "We can/t stand by and let cuts endanger our promised guaranteed retirement benefits, especially when so many of us are counting on Social Security to help us lead a happy, healthy life when we retire."

n "Social security is already in danger, and our senior citizens can barely afford to live, even though they have worked hard all of their lives. President Bush is planning on cutting a third of our Social Security."

n "President Bush is endangering my retirement and the retirements of millions of Americans with his proposals on the future of Social Security."

It is also fairly clear that many of these letters are the product of a letter-writing campaign spearheaded by one or more national groups that oppose the president/s proposal. The words and phrasing of dozens of letters we/ve received are identical, too identical to be random and individual thoughts.

That/s OK with us. We/ll weed out some of the completely repetitive and redundant letters, in large part because they would take space away from readers whose letters are original. But we/ll publish a few because this is an issue that strikes to the core of most senior citizens/ lives, and one that will be debated for months to come.

We aren/t quite sure yet what to think about the president/s notion to change Social Security. At the heart of his plan is a proposal to let American workers devote part of their 12.4-percent payroll tax to a private investment account. One real benefit of that is that the U.S. stock markets would, almost overnight, grow exponentially. Another possible plus is that many more Americans would become familiar with the markets and how they work.

Of course, the biggest potential downside of Bush/s plan is that those who choose to invest in their own private Social Security accounts would be vulnerable to the twists and turns of the stock markets. It is not inconceivable that the market could turn sour on such investors, and at least a portion of their retirement income could go down the tubes.

That/s not what President Roosevelt had in mind when he created the Social Security program in the wake of the Great Depression. FDR wanted a way to ensure that those people, and generations of their descendants, would have a guaranteed income in retirement, after a lifetime of working and contributing to the Social Security program.

The problem now is that the program is in the early stages of a terminal illness. It will run out of money in about 40 years. The disease has been diagnosed, which means there is plenty of time to come up with a cure. We/re just not convinced Bush/s investment scheme is the right medicine.

Let the debate begin.

Jan. 9, 2005