Social Insecure-ity

Senator Lindsay Graham (R - South Carolina), Senator Mitt Romney (R - Utah), and Governor Ron DeSantis (R - Florida) have all been making noises about changing the nature and management of Social Security.

Let's use either the Internet archive, or Mr. Peabody's  WayBackMachine, briefly.

Social Security was highly controversial when originally proposed. One reason? The fear that that it would shrink the labor force, by making it easier for some to avoid working altogether - precursor of welfare queens? Its supporters argued instead that retiring older workers would free up employment for young men, which during the Depression was a significant concern.

Then, in the 1930s, the Supreme Court struck down much of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal legislation.  Ultimately, two decisions of the Court affirmed the constitutionality of the Social Security Act.  But it seems none of Messrs. DeSantis, Graham, and Romney are aware of Social Security's history. One must assume their wish to reshape entitlement programs, and Soc in particular, to be their own Way Back Machine – a means to create an alternate reality in order to appeal to the Trumpian base of their party.

According to the Social Security Administration (SSA), in 2019, nearly Nearly 70 million people received benefits from  SSA programs, while almost 6 million people were newly awarded benefits.

As further argument in support of Social Security, I'll paraphrase a blog post I did for the United Steel Workers several years ago.

I’m newly retired. Social Security leaves me a couple hundred dollars short each month, so I applied for the SNAP program – that is, for food stamps. The instinct of some to condemn SNAP participants as freeloaders or criminals is troubling. I’m neither. I have a Master’s degree in Computer Information Science. I taught for over 20 years at various institutions of higher education. The lack of a doctorate cost me jobs, though, and now causes me to have to rely on food stamps to supplement my income. And despite millions of SNAP participants having stories like mine, there's been a trend. When the poor or middle class object to preferential treatment for the rich, it's called class warfare. But when the very-well-to-do refer to food stamp or Social Security recipients as welfare queens, it’s okay.

The reason Republicans continue to use Social Security as a boogeyman is that they're afraid. They know themselves to be radically out of step with their own voters. 

However polarized Americans may be on some issues, an overwhelming majority of us believe that Social Security is more important than ever.  That same majority strongly oppose cuts to the program, instead wanting benefits to be expanded, and the wealthiest among us to pay their fair share.

Good luck with that, if the majority of the electorate don't vote.