Dear Editor,
I am writing today in response to comments made recently by Congressman Paul Ryan indicating that a massive overhaul of the social security system is needed. While I agree that perhaps the system needs to be tweaked in light of the demographic change that is occurring due to the retirement of the baby boomers, I do not believe that the kind of change Congressman Ryan seeks is going to improve the system, but instead would help to dismantle it.
Ryan’s proposal would cut benefits dramatically and take steps toward privatization. Doing so would break a promise not only to the millions of American seniors, widows and orphans who rely on their social security income for survival; it would also be breaking a promise to all working Americans, as we have all pay our fair share into the system.
While Ryan and others may believe that, given the opportunity to invest their social security, every single American out there will make wise choices with their investments and that corporations and hedge funds can be relied upon to always invest money wisely on their behalf, we need look no further back than the current economic crisis to see the shortcomings of business in looking out for the well-being of the American people. Social security is and always was conceived as a safety net, so that those among us who have least will at least have something to sustain them. Let’s keep it that way. A humane society recognizes a need to provide support for those who, due to age or disability, no longer have the option of working to support themselves.
