I don't have faith in the intellectual capacity of the electorate to solve this politically. Even the reasonably intelligent are infected with expectations of instant gratification and comfortable living, and will balk at austerity measures. These entitlement programs have been enormously popular from the very beginning. Even now, in the face of enormous debt and even bigger future liabilities in excess of $100 TRILLION, people still poll overwhelmingly against changes to SS. That may be a victory in the court of public opinion, but it doesn't change the reality that these programs are dragging us down to fiscal ruin. Further, it points a definite finger at the real source of the problem: our idiot fellow citizens. Our civilization has done an impressive job of artificially insulating idiots from the forces of reality, but ultimately nature will settle the account.
We keep hearing warnings about kicking the can down the road, and how that will only make the problem that much more painful to deal with when it finally happens. The thing is, we're already near the end of that road, so the gloomy scenario suggested by that warning is actually almost upon us. This was a warning that should have been sounded 30 years ago, or longer. There were voices, but they were laughed down as alarmists.
Nobody likes the prospects of Crash & Burn, but it may be the only thing that actually "fixes" things. You keep giving people the power to do so in an ordered fashion, and they just keep deciding to ignore the problem.