— Extending a payroll tax reduction in money directed to Social Security would take America down “a slippery slope” and endanger retirement checks of recipients into the next generation, Sen. Joe Manchin warned Friday.

Manchin and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, also D-W.Va., were on opposite sides of the tally when the Senate refused to prolong the tax break.

Rockefeller insisted no harm would come to the Social Security system and that the cut translates into a $1,500 annual bonanza for struggling workers in America.

“We respectfully disagree on this,” Manchin told West Virginia reporters in a telephone conference call.

Manchin disputed the claim by proponents that any shortfall in the system could be made up by slapping the wealthy with a 3.2 percent surcharge.

“If we know there’s loopholes, why don’t we fix the system?” he asked.

“Why are we still allowing them to have the loopholes but adding a surcharge?”

For now, he said, the Social Security debt is $2.5 trillion, and last year’s payroll deduction cost $120 billion, with proponents maintaining the difference can be made up from general revenues.

With the nation’s debt at a staggering $15 trillion, and headed for $17 trillion, the debt ceiling likely will be reached sooner this year, he said.

“I don’t know of anyone who believes we have the discipline to reimburse Social Security,” the freshman Democrat said.

“The payroll tax (reduction) is not a credible way. It starts us down a horrible tradition of basically using the tax dollars that we have for one purpose and one purpose only, which is retirement for the elderly in this country to have some quality of life as you grow old and we put that totally in jeopardy.”

Manchin said the nation needs to move on the Bowles-Simpson debt proposal and put politics aside for the good of the nation, or see the next generation inherit a country worse off than the ones their parents lived in.

“We are playing games here,” he said of the gridlock in the capital.

“We are playing political games in Washington. We’re taking names and we’re trying to keep score strictly for the 2012 election. This is all about the elections. They don’t intend to fix anything.”

Whatever it costs him politically, Manchin said, he is determined to repair the morass of long-term debt.

On the matter of denying constitutional rights to American citizens swept up in identified terrorist groups, or making threats against this nation, Manchin said he agreed with suspending Miranda readings to such suspects since the nation is locked in “a hidden war” now, with no uniforms to clearly separate the two sides.

And when a citizen sides with the country’s enemies, he said, Miranda shouldn’t apply.

“I believe you lose that right,” he said of Miranda warnings.

“I believe you are treated the same as a terrorist from another country. I just believe when you denounce this country and wish to do it harm and kill Americans and change the way of life in America... I know one thing, as a West Virginian, you wouldn’t be considered a good West Virginian then.”

Manchin said he would look into a Facebook post that suggested the Department of Homeland Security would consider veterans and those active in the pro-life movement as potential terrorists.

“That’s crazy,” he said.

Using two opposing protest groups to illustrate — the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street — Manchin said Americans can exercise their right to disagree on policy.

In fact, Manchin said he agrees with positions taken by both sides — that taxes are too steep with spending out of control, and that 1 percent enjoys the good life at the expense of the other 99 percent.

“We’ve got to find a balance,” he said.

“For me to say you and I might be of different religions, or we believe differently, that’s the beauty about being Americans. You’re allowed to do that. For some to label someone a terrorist and don’t agree like we do, I think that’s wrong.”

On a lighter subject, Manchin, a longtime hunter, managed to hit the woods during the two-week, bucks-only firearm season, although he was tempted to get a jump on fellow hunters.

Outside a Charleston townhouse, as he prepared to drive to a favorite hunting area, he spied an 8-point buck in the yard.

“You can’t shoot in your backyard,” he laughed. “I wanted to, though.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com