Dear Mr. Vice President;

I would like to personally commend you for finally realizing after seven and a half years of reinventing our government that its single biggest program - Social Security - needs to be reformed. I especially want to applaud you for endorsing my reform plan, Social Security Plus.

When I saw that you had chosen the exact same name for your plan that I created back in 1998 - Social Security Plus - well, I was very flattered, as you can imagine. After all, we developed that name in 1998 as part of a comprehensive study of how to reform Social Security, had it legally trademarked in 1999, have used the name for the website to promote this idea since October 1999 (www.socialsecurityplus.org), and have an organization set up in that name which has over 100,000 members from all 50 states signed up.

I had no idea when we began this organization that I would one day count the Vice-President amongst my supporters.

I hope that your attempt to use the name I created is more successful than your previous attempts to prove you invented the Internet, discovered Love Canal, were the inspiration for Love Story, hand built the U.S. economy, are addicted to iced tea, wrote stories that had criminals thrown in jail, were a co-signer of the McCain/Feingold bill or know how to manage rental property. I'm sure it will be.

Since you called your plan Social Security Plus, I must assume that it calls for personal retirement accounts (much like the plans Governor Bush and Senator Moynihan have advocated) and that your plan:

* Creates a personal, tax-free retirement account for every American worker who wants one, but allows those who wish to remain in the current system to do so;

* Guarantees that current or near-retirees will receive every single penny that was promised to them, including every COLA increase, making them feel safe instead of frightening them for political gain;

* Allows workers to invest a portion of their FICA tax in these Social Security Plus accounts, which will provide them with a much greater return on their money than the current 1935 system does;

* Provides a new investment opportunity to poor Americans (including monks sworn to poverty), and allows every worker, of every background, to become a saver and investor overnight - forcing your speechwriters to tear up their "class warfare" speeches;

* Ends the economic injustice inherent in a system that only provides benefits for African American males after their average life expectancy, by replacing it with a system that gives EVERY American the opportunity to have a safe retirement;

* Puts an end to the crazy idea - put forth by you - of actually allowing the government to invest in the stock market.

I'm sure that in the coming days you will begin to lay out more of the specifics of your program. I hope the above will help you as a guideline. If you need more information, please visit www.socialsecurityplus.org using that wonderful Internet of yours. You can even sign up for a free email newsletter. (Don't worry - it is very easy to delete.)

However, if somehow your plan is different from the one we have assigned to our trademarked name, we may need to explore whether or not there is any controlling legal authority in trademark cases.

Either way, should you need to learn more, please contact the President of Social Security Plus, Michael Shields, at 202-463-6690.

Good Luck!

Newt Gingrich