An e-mail sent to Rush Limbaugh in 1995:
Rush:
When the issue of Social Security is
raised on your program, it seems to me that you defer somewhat to the
"seasoned citizens" among your listeners. I agree that they should be
treated with respect. But our politicians have been misleading them for
so long on this issue, that we need someone to tell it like it is. Or
at least, The Way it Ought to Be. Social Security is the Mother of All
Welfare Programs. It's not an annuity, A's not a savings account,
its not a "Sacred Covenant". It's welfare, and should be lumped
in with all other federal welfare programs. Just like
my taxes that support AFDC, the money for Social Security recipients
comes out of my paycheck, and is transferred almost immediately to the
welfare recipient. But Social Security does differ in three major
respects from other federal welfare programs:
1. It is funded by a capped flat
tax that gets a separate line item on my paycheck.
2. You don't have to be
poor to receive the Social Security welfare payment. In fact, the
middle income and well-to-do recipients are likely to draw
far more than the poor. So we're making our largest payments to
people with the smallest need.
3. Last I checked, Social
Security payments amounted to 25% of all federal tax revenues. All
other welfare programs are nearly insignificant by comparison. So why
is Social Security instantly by-passed by both parties when the subject
of balancing the budget is discussed? Well, you and I know why. The Big
Lie has been told for so long that most seniors actually believe that
their Social Security checks represent their own money coming back to
them. Any of us can send in a form to the Social Security
Administration and get a statement of future benefits, as if our FICA
payments were building up in some sort of retirement account for us to
tap when we retire. So when you talk of reducing payments, or even
modifying COLA's, the typical seasoned citizen acts like you've
proposed confiscating their bank account.
To be honest, the Social Security
Administration should add some sort of disclaimer to those statements
of future benefits:
"THIS
STATEMENT OF BENEFITS DOES NOT REPRESENT MONEY THAT HAS BEEN SET ASIDE
FOR YOUR FUTURE USE. IT ACTUALLY REPRESENTS A PROMISE TO TAX THE FUTURE
WORKFORCE AT WHATEVER LEVEL IS NECESSARY TO PAY YOU THESE BENEFITS WHEN
YOU BECOME ELIGIBLE."
I know that if you were to tell it
like it is on the air that your phone lines would light up for weeks
and that you would be faced with threatened boycotts of your sponsors a
general uprising from seasoned citizens. (Remember that today's
seasoned citizens are the voters who stood by in years past when the
system was transformed by generations of politicians from a social
safety net into a way to buy votes for re-election. Their generation
may have sacrificed, but they also must take a measure of
responsibility for the scam that Social Security has become).
Somebody's gotta stand up and
straighten people out on this. You're in a great position to see to it
that your listeners, at least, hear the truth. Politicians won't dare
touch it until people start to see the system like it really is - the
Mother of All Welfare Programs. What do you say, Rush. How about every
time the subject comes up on your show, stop calling it Social
Security. It really should be called "The Social Security Welfare
Program"...
A minor change, but it says so much.
citizen bob
