One of my online acquaintances recently posted a message announcing her intention to vote Republican all down the ticket this fall. Although I don’t know this person well, I have come to respect her for her kindness and reasonableness in her online behavior.
After my initial shock and disbelief that someone of her perceived sensibilities would—no, could—harbor such views, I began internal deliberations over whether or not I should respond. As this person has an active presence on FB, a number of other people shortly chimed in with a variety of responses ranging from incredulity to disbelief. Some of the retorts were condescending in nature; to these she responded with calm and wisely-worded defenses that spoke to the importance of treating others with respect while calmly defending her right to voice her beliefs. She responded similarly to the baiting taunts and derisive comments that came her way: Her responses were all in character with the person I have come to respect and admire for the good judgment she has always exhibited.
And yet, here she was, voicing support for a man whose reelection will spell doom for the social safety net ushered in following the Great Depression to provide financial security for seniors, the ill and disabled; doom to the system of checks and balances that has enabled our democracy to flourish since its founding; doom to any hopes of reversing the effects of climate change while we still have a chance to make a difference—in short, doom to life as we know it.
Just yesterday, it was announced that, if trump is reelected, he plans to eliminate permanently the payroll tax. Doing so, according to the Chief Actuary for Social Security, Stephen C. Goss, would end disability insurance by mid-2021 and end Social Security by mid- 2023.* How could the president make good on his promise to restore the economy when faced with the unimaginable financial disruption that would result from the discontinuation of Social Security? Speaking in purely economic terms, this defies logic.
In fact, most of what mr trump promises defies logic.
But, based on the resoluteness of my online acquaintance, I doubt these concerns will sway her vote.
What is one to do when good people with good hearts make such bad decisions? Yes, she is entitled to her opinions, and to her ability to express them in any way she chooses. And yet, by choosing to reelect trump, she is making a decision that will have profound effects on my life, and those of countless other retired and disabled people across the nation.
For the life of me I cannot understand how anyone who either depends on Social Security or expects to do so when they retire, as I suspect my online acquaintance does, could elect a president who seeks to end this program permanently.
All justifications aside, bad decisions made in good faith, by good people, are nonetheless bad decisions.
I don’t pretend to know the answer to this question, but some quotes from an article that appeared in the August 6, 2020 edition of Rolling Stone may be instructive in this regard. Written by anthropologist Wade Davis and titled ‘The Unraveling of America,’ the author offers the following:
Having “nothing to do with political ideology,” the “measure of wealth in a civilized nation is . . the strength and resonance of social relations and the bonds of reciprocity that connect all people in common purpose.”
Davis observes that, due to the elevation of the needs of the individual over those of the community, we, as a nation, have lost our common purpose. The current politicization of mask-wearing and its resultant furor is a prime example of this state of affairs, or, as Davis puts it, “evidence of such terminal decadence is the choice that so many Americans made in 2016 to prioritize their personal indignations, placing their own resentments above any concerns for the fate of the country and the world, as they rushed to elect a man whose only credential for the job was his willingness to give voice to their hatreds, validate their anger, and target their enemies, real or imagined. One shudders to think of what it will mean to the world if Americans in November, knowing all that they do, elect to keep such a man in political power.”
Tim Konrad
2020.08.26
Quoted from source:
“If this hypothetical legislation were enacted, with no alternative source of revenue to replace the elimination of payroll taxes on earned income paid on January 1, 2021 and thereafter, we estimate that DI Trust Fund asset reserves would become permanently depleted in about the middle of calendar year 2021, with no ability to pay DI benefits thereafter. We estimate that OASI Trust Fund reserves would become permanently depleted by the middle of calendar year 2023, with no ability to pay OASI benefits thereafter.”
(OASI)– Social Security’s Old Age and Survivors Insurance (commonly called ‘Social Security’)
(DI)– Trust Fund and Disability Insurance
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