Columnist William Raspberry eloquently expressed a concern that has really been bothering me of late – the lack of sound, independent voices from the left or the right or, heaven help us, from the middle on issues of national importance (“Reliable, independent voices are becoming few,” March 14).

He spoke of the apparent sellout of Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman, who it seems has been chairman since I was a child (I’m now 65) and a trusted adviser to both Democratic and Republican presidents. Mr. Greenspan recently endorsed President Bush’s ill-conceived plan to shore up Social Security by offering private investment accounts as the principal means to “save” it.

Where is the discourse from sound thinking advisers? As has been the case since nearly the start of “The Great Uniter’s” first term we seem to be stuck with the shrill voices of the left and right choirs trying to see who can sing the loudest.

In my opinion, the solution to the Social Security shortfall is relatively simple, but it takes a little giving from both sides. Lift the income lid of $90,000, the point at which a person no longer has to contribute to Social Security, and continue to gradually raise the age at which citizens are eligible to receive full benefits to age 70. Make that age-threshold subject to review as life expectancy continues to lengthen. You would completely address the fear of Social Security running out of money. Heck, we might even get both sides to find a way to let the government invest some small percentage of the overall reserves in conservative stocks. No, that’s probably going too far. If they were that chatty, our elected officials might actually take a serious look at the Medicare bomb getting ready to go off right around the corner.

Dick Van Hollebeke

Edmonds