Right News and Views

Oh, how I wish this image would come true.

Through many e-mails corresponding with various readers of In my Write Mind as well as this blog I have come to a realization; I am guilty of hypocrisy concerning my feelings and intentions towards Social Security as a retirement plan. Why? Because in the course of dialogues with dogged supporters of government enforced retirement planning I have often added comments, in addition to the facts I present against the system, to impress upon the reader just how emphatically I resent Social Security. These comments generally run along the lines that I intend to live as long as humanly possible to insure that I get back every cent with interest that was stolen from my paychecks. I have even quite seriously entertained the thought of setting up my will to include verbiage that I am kept alive as long as possible – even if I’m a vegetable – to insure I keep collecting my money.

But such sentiments, I now realize, are a betrayal of my own very deeply held beliefs. My logic, if such it could be called, was that I wanted to take back from the government all that it took from me. But this is a fallacy. Government does not have the money it ripped from my paychecks. I would simply thieve – through government redistribution- from young people to fund my living expenses in old age. So I would not get my money back nor would I take anything from government itself. Rather, I would merely accept the money of young mothers who may be having trouble making ends meet. Rather, I would merely accept the money of struggling families who don’t have quite enough to provide for their child or children the way they want to provide. Rather, I would merely accept the money of a young man who doesn’t know how he’ll make his next tuition payment.

I cannot in good conscience do that. What good Social Security does as a protection against disability is mitigated by how much harm it does as a retirement plan. And I simply refuse to be a part of it. In today’s world there is no excuse except blatant irresponsibility for failing to plan for your own golden years as even a modest amount set aside every week will lead to a secure, if not opulent, retirement. Of course, for those currently retired or about to retire, I would not dream of asking our nation to renege on its promises. But to my generation and those who will follow we must break the cycle.

And so, rather than apply for Social Security “benefits” when I retire, I will abstain. I will not be party to the plunder of the earnings of those younger than I. True, my own earnings will still remain subject to Social Security taxes. I do not wish to become Amish or Mennonite (two groups that our government does allow to opt out of Social Security- lucky them) and so I have no alternative but to pay for the retirement of others. But I will not subjugate future generations to the same concerning my retirement.

I therefore say again- I will not accept Social Security when I retire. True, I am but one person and will hardly have any impact whatsoever. But my conscience will be clean and, almost as importantly, I will presume to be an example and dare to ask if there is anyone else who will follow my standard? Will anyone stand against the looting of our youth or has individual accountability and personal responsibility vanished from the character of our country?