In a By Invitation essay published October 9, 2026, Glenn Hubbard says that of all America's fiscal challenges, the shortfall facing Social Security is the one the public feels most keenly. Because politicians have struggled to act, he proposes going around the polarized electoral process and asking a representative sample of voters to deliberate on reform in a citizens' assembly, a model that has worked in Europe. Hubbard sees two benefits. It sidesteps voters' mistrust of politicians, and it fills the gaps in politicians' understanding of what voters will actually accept on reform.
