Robin Cox – 11/21/10

This page was last updated on November 24, 2010.

Socialist Security is poor gauge to use; Robin Cox; Beaver County Times; November 21, 2010.

Below is a copy of the letter as I submitted it.

In his letter “Elderly will be hit under GOP policies,” Dan Cogley asserted, “Every industrialized country is gauged by how it treats the elderly.” I disagree. Countries should be gauged by the freedom citizens have to prepare to take care of themselves, not by how dependent government can make the elderly on politicians, political appointees, and government bureaucrats. With the federal government confiscating 15.3% of our paychecks right off the top (The mythical 50% employer “contribution” is really accounting sleight of hand.) for Medicare and Socialist Security, the U.S. would be gauged poorly using this metric.

Several years ago a former local state representative told InformationWeek (March 15, 2004), “If my parents didn’t have Social Security around to take their money and invest it for them, and if they’d have had to make their own investment decisions, they would have lost it all.” I thought it was sad he had so little confidence in his parents, and ultimately in himself.

It’s amazing how many of us don’t see how dangerous it is for citizens to be made dependent on government for their livelihood. Government should be controlled by “We the People,” not the other way around.