Not everyone will like the message U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham brought to an audience at Sun City Hilton Head this week. But they should appreciate his independent thought and his willingness to say something too few politicians are willing to say: This could hurt.

Graham visited our community Tuesday to pitch his version of Social Security reform, and he was followed a day later by U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson.

Graham said he supports privatized accounts for young people, but he does not stop there. He acknowledges that privatized accounts will not solve the core problem. And he puts on the table a series of suggestions to address the real problem: Ensuring that revenue matches expenditures for the long term. To do that, he says those who can best afford it should be asked to pay more into the system. And not all benefits and eligibility can stay the same as they are today.

Graham is to be applauded for working on a bipartisan approach to addressing Social Security. It comes at a time when too few will try this almost forgotten, but time-tested way of getting things done in Washington. Graham praises President Bush for doing what others before him have failed to do and put Social Security reform on the agenda. But at the same time, Graham shows independence from the lock-step party line of his own Republican Party by saying the White House has "oversold" the private accounts. He is willing to say privatization will not save Social Security, which is a good starting point to examine the details of his own proposal.

Beyond candor and bipartisanship, the nation needs to come to terms with cold truths. Americans need to understand that the sacrifice of previous generations will have to be repeated to keep the nation strong.

The nation is better served by examining the hard numbers of Social Security solvency. If those numbers can be ironed out, then it might entertain the concept of privatized accounts -- again with the system's bottom line in the forefront.

When America needs to eat its spinach, somebody needs to say that rather than crank up the ice cream truck playing the tune that everyone can have everything they want and there will be no sacrifice or unpleasant consequences.

Graham's ideas deserve more attention and debate. For better or for worse, the ideas he shared in southern Beaufort County this week show a refreshing sense of reality-based politics.