An Old Debate Renewed

Today, the Washington Post and the New York Times debate one of the most notorious crimes of the civil rights era: the killing of three activists in Neshoba County, Miss., in June 1964.

Both the Times and the Post applaud the manslaughter conviction this week of 80-year-old Edgar Ray Killen, a “defiant racist” (Post) and “former klansman” (Times), but their agreement ends there.

The Post says the verdict was late but “sends an important message: Time can bring neither forgiveness nor amnesty for the brutality of Mr. Killen and others who conducted a reign of terror in the civil rights era.” For the Times, however, “justice delayed is quite often justice denied.” Meanwhile, in Mississippi, the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson basically agrees with the Post. Or rather, the Post agrees with the Clarion-Ledger; its editorial was Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal leads with one of its favorite subjects, Social Security. It returns to an idea it endorsed several months ago: a plan by two Republican members of Congress to allow workers to invest surplus Social Security funds in personal accounts.

But wait: Isn’t the whole problem the Social Security deficit? Well, yes, the editorial explains, but that’s decades away; currently the program collects more revenue than it pays out, and Congress wastes the extra money on such frivolities as the Dr. Seuss Museum. (No word on location or hours.) The editorial does a credible job of explaining the complexities -- more than can be said for the Republican champion on this issue, President Bush.

Michael Newman