| Summary: | Part of a special section on reforming Social Security for the 21st century. The writer considers how privatizing Social Security would affect the American family, and he considers whether returning economic assets and social control to family members would revitalize the family as society's most basic building block. He maintains that the effect of the creation of completely owned individual pension accounts that could be inherited and distributed among descendants could be enormous. He asserts that a privatized Social Security system should establish a new type of patrimony, one based in equities, bonds, and other investments rather than land. He contends that a much larger private pension scheme should reinforce the concept of community property, promote the economic reasoning for becoming and staying married, and, consequently, hinder divorce, making economic interests once again in harmony with family interests. The writer concludes that a final advantage of privatizing Social Security would be a weakening of the state.
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