March 13, 2023
The American Dream is dead — welcome the American Nightmare — heralded by the death of Social Security and threatening to plunge millions of Americans into poverty.
Social security has been, for almost 90 years, a symbol of a society willing to take care of its aged and those who believed in the promise of one day being paid back for their monetary contributions to their country. Social Security is the ultimate safety net and a socialist enterprise — for if you work hard and pay your taxes — the government is supposed to take care of you in your retirement. It\’s part of the American Dream.
Instead, we now see members of the Republican Party willing to hold Social Security (the sustenance for many millions of Americans), hostage (with some ultra-right members ready to do away with it altogether).
You can\’t privatize Social Security and leave it to the vicissitudes of the stock market! As noted, I have a sneaking suspicion that these social security haters don\’t approve of the \”social\” in \”Social Security\” — because it sounds too much like socialism.
But because Social Security is such a huge pot — and is due to run out in the next 12-years-or-so unless immediate action is taken — it is tantalizing to all who would make this a two-class State (rich and poor [if you didn\’t catch the allusion]). I have heard rumors that some administrations have already been pilfering the fund and not replacing the monies.
The federal government is supposed to be a custodian of our tax dollars — and we are supposed to receive services for our tax dollars; which — when compared to other \”industrialized\” countries — we get a very limited return on our investment in our government. Our tax monies barely trickle down through the governmental bureaucracies — to wit — waiting for a bus with no bus shelter in the recent Southern California rains.
There are forces at work to put the middle class even more at risk!
If ever there was a starting point to begin a discussion on Social Security it\’s about: Who\’s money it is anyway? It is the money belonging to the American taxpayer — and tampering with the American Dream (to live happily ever after in retirement) should be considered a high crime.
I think my favorite journalists and pundits need to make this issue their central focus — because if we don\’t oppose the Republican threat to Social Security — that will be the final nail in our collective coffin! Let\’s get my beloved Times to sponsor a competition for the best solution to our tanking Social Security system.
So I call upon Steve Lopez, Michael Hiltzik, Robin Acarian, George Skelton, Doyle McManus, LZ Granderson, the Goldbergs and all of CNN and MSNBC (and anyone else who has a public forum or bully pulpit) to make the saving of Social Security their top priority in the weeks and months to come. Otherwise most-of-us will be joining the breadlines and the line-ups at the soup kitchens — being told that it was our fault (that we were robbed?!) and that we should consider ourselves lucky that our government practices a bit of socialism amidst capitalism run amok!
A budding nightmare indeed!
For weeks I\’ve been trying to compose a letter to Jeff Bezos and I just can\’t seem to get it right. I\’ll see what I can do after this attempt.