Tea Partiers Say They Would Absolutely Abolish Social Security

by sammielee24 108 Replies latest jw friends

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  sammielee24

  Please, please, please let the Libertarians, Republicans and their offshoot the Tea Party, run on this issue. Please. Oh my heavens what a joy it would be to line up all the runners and tell half of the Americans - the vast majority of those who actually live on their social security, that they want to take it away. Abolish it. Rip it from their hands. I'm sure if they keep spouting stuff like this, the liberals of the country will have a hay day with it.....I've yet to hear anyone at any rally, say they want to hand back their Medicare and go without - I've yet to hear any of them say they would burn their Social Security checks..sammieswife.

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  Last night on CNN, Larry King discussed the rise of the tea parties with a variety of guests and featured footage from last weekend’s lobbyist-organized Tea Party Express rally in Searchlight, NV. Dana Loesch, a tea party organizer from Missouri, and another tea party organizer, Wayne Allyn Root, joined King for the discussion. Root and Loesch decried the “unprecedented” and “unconstitutional” reach of a health care mandate. However, King noted that programs like Social Security are mandatory and asked if the tea parties would like to “do away with” that program as well. Both tea party organizers enthusiastically said “yes, absolutely” and added that a compromise would be at least privatizing the system:

  KING: Would anyone turn away Social Security now? Would you do away with it?

  LOESCH: I would, yes.

  KING: You would?

  LOESCH: Yes, absolutely.

  KING: Would do you away with it, Wayne?

  ROOT: I’d certainly like to. At best, I do away with it because I could find better ways to spend and save my own $15,000 a year.

  As many observers have noted, tea party fervor has infected the modern Republican Party. The Republican Budget Road Map, championed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and agrowing number of GOP lawmakers, would appease the tea parties by slashing entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security through cuts and privatization. Unfortunately, King did not discuss the billionaire-backers of the tea parties, like David Koch, who similarly wants to do away with Social Security.
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  sir82

  It would certainly make for an interesting question to ask at any "town hall" type meetings, pre-election, to any "tea-baggers" running for office.

  "I've heard several tea-baggers openly call for the abolition of Social Security. Where do you stand on the issue?"
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  sammielee24

  I agree. I'd go one step further and use the GOP 'death panels' ruse - hit the seniors and those about to retire and attack the issue head on with them. Point out that when your social security ends - so do you. GOP death panels by poverty and homelessness. Considering that the GOP have basically taken on the Tea Party as part of their branch of government - I think the Dems could use it against both groups and win by a landslide. All those folk who wanted 'government out of my health care'...won't carry a sign asking 'government please take my social security and leave me homeless'....lol...should be very, very interesting........sammieswife.
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  WingCommander

  So what's the big deal? Social Security and other "entitlement programs" are nothing more then cute socialist programs. If I could "opt out" of paying Social Security (and thereby also lose my right to collect it) I would in an instant. Yeah, I'd love to be able to invest that money how I see fit for my own retirement, not have the government automatically take it away from me.

  Do tell, exactly how do you think Obama-Hood is going to pay for the HealthCare Reform he just signed into law? I'll tell you how - how about a 10-20% VAT Tax like the European countries have? That's how THEY pay for all of their socialist entitelment programs, and I can almost garuntee that is what is going to be proposed in the next few years, and probably signed into law before Obama leaves offifce. It will have to be in order to pay for the skyrocketing cost of it all. Imagine, everything you buy, maybe even FOOD, would have a 10-20% VAT tax on it. People are struggling now, wait till THAT tax is thrown on top. We haven't even gotten to the real hard times yet in this country.

  A taxpayer voting for Obama is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. My question to you is, are you going to original, or extra crispy?

  - Wing Commander
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  thomas15

  My friends, I'm a member of my local 9-12 project and attended a tea party just last night (3/30/10). There were several canidates for governor (one of them will be the next governor of PA), a Lt. Governor canidate and the very likely next congressional member from my district. The event was televised and professionally run.

  So, If you want to know anything about what the teabaggers think or are running on, feel free to ask a member (which happens to be ME).

  By the way, I'm on the republican primary ballot as a canidate for county committee. I would have never in a 1000 years considered such a move if it were not for the tea party. Also, my wife and two teen age kids marched on Wash DC last Sept 12. If you would like to know exactly what happened there from someone who actually was there, feel free to ask me. Or, you could rely on CNN and think you know what the tea party is all about, your choice. By the way, last night the tea party didn't give the republicans a pass during the Q and A session. This may come as a surprise to you.

  One thing that you should know about the state of our country. We are on target to go bankrupt in the near future. Reardless of where you stand on social security, once we go belly up, no one will collect their SS checks.

  Take care,

  Tom

  On edit: I don't intend to offend anyone here. But let me say this, I believe that one of the positive effects from my perspective on the WT not allowing members to vote is that I believe that if it were not for the WT and left to their own judgement, most JWs would vote for liberal democratic canidates. Again, not to offend, but look at the demographic.
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  LongHairGal

  Sounds like some of these Tea Partiers are young and haven't been paying into Social Security for the past 30 or 40 years like a lot of other people have. They would SURELY be singing a different tune if they were!

  Anybody who paid into it for most decades of their life certainly wants to see it and most definitely need it. If it isn't there for me I am certainly going on welfare.
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  thomas15

  LongHairGal,

  Sounds to me like you don't know what you are talking about. There is very little actual fact in your comment above. Sorry to be so blunt.

  Tom
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  LongHairGal

  Really Thomas,

  I beg to differ with you.

  LHG
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  thomas15

  LHG,

  Of course I support you right to freedom of thought, however I'm a member so that means I know what I'm talking about.
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  JWoods

  I will contend that the idea of abolishing Social Security is not actually a real goal of the tea party movement.

  If you look at what the one guy said, he said that he would prefer to privately invest his $15,000 a year than depend on a system which just this year went cash negative (about 7 years ahead of estimates, IIRC). This may be a preference of some, but it is not politically possible at this time.

  Something, however, will have to be done about the negative cash flow of both FICA and Medicare/Medicaid. The Obama health care plan cuts billions from Medicare/Medicaid. A similar cut in FICA payments, or a massive tax increase on the working class will be necessary for social security.

  Neither one will be popular. The tax increase will be the easiest and most likely for the democrats in power to achieve.

  After that is done, there will be no chance of a private investment segment of the social security system - no taxpayer money will be left for it. This Ponzi scheme, if everyone recalls, was an invention of FDR - and it has been known that it was going broke for many decades because of simple demographics.