Social Security

So I was debating about what to write today... should I write about Social Security, or should I write about SLS? Social Security won. Watch for an SLS post coming soon.

This particular post is likely to make some people angry. Just warning you. Except... very few people read here, so perhaps I have nothing to fear.

I have some strong opinions, just ask my husband.

For one thing, I think birth control ruined marriage.

I am with the Catholic church on this one. Not that I embrace the Quiverful Movement. I don't. But I still think birth control ruined marriage. When science enabled us to separate the act of sex from the act of procreation, something sacred was lost. No longer was a vow of commitment imperative before a couple embarked on a sexual relationship. Sexuality became divorced from love, and something died that will never live again.

That's all I'm going to say about that, because this post is about Social Security, not birth control. Nevertheless, I think birth control ruined marriage.

I also think that Welfare ruined the poor. (I can just imagine the seething that will ensue if certain people run into this post...)

My parents grew up poor. Really poor. But their parents did not fall into the safety net of Welfare and thus, my parents worked hard and rose up in the world. Granted, their families were only poor because of the Great Depression; they did not come from generations of poor, uneducated, ignorant people. They had education and knowledge in their pasts, and this enabled them to dream and work, sweat and sacrifice. My dad worked for a painter when he was in college. He painted, painted and painted, all so he could pay his tuition. The painter he worked for would call out to him from down a fume-filled hall, "Hey Rainbow! Do ya think you'll ever amount to much?"

Welfare should not have been so bad. People should have used it to get a leg up and move on, amounting to something. But they didn't. Humans are intrinsically lazy and selfish, so if the government will give us enough to feed our faces, many of us are content to sit in a hovel with a TV and cigarettes for amusement and wait for a government check on the first of the month.

This is what the poor children learn... why should I try hard in school? The government check comes whether I do my homework or not. In fact, we get more money from the government when Dad moves out and Mom stops working. So why even try? Life is pretty bleak, but a good hit of drugs always makes me feel better. Whatever.

I could go on, but I will leave it at that because this post is about Social Security, not Welfare. Nevertheless, I think Welfare ruined the poor.

Social Security ruined families, and particularly middle class ones.

Do you want to know why?

Before "Social Security," one's social security was bound up in one's children. People raised their children with the thought in mind, "Some day I will be depending on these people for my own survival. Someday they will support me, and I will live in their house."

Now this was never true for the Very Wealthy, because their futures did not depend on their children, they depended on their trust funds and investments. And we saw what became of their children (read Brideshead Revisited if you want to see... or don't; it's a terribly depressing book).

When "Social Security" came along, people stopped seeing their children as their future. Heck, the government was taking care of their future. Their kids were, at best, a hobby. Kids became things to be petted, spoiled and indulged. Why should one struggle with discipline, teaching offspring to work hard and sacrifice and make good choices? It's so much easier and more peaceful just to let them have what they want. Why not? The government has our backs, financially.

I'm just saying. Necessity is the mother of invention...

When it was necessary for people to parent well because their futures depended on it, by and large they did a much better job of it. Self-interest is a powerful motivator.

When it became unnecessary to parent well, well, by and large a lot of people stopped putting in the effort. They redefined the main responsibility of parenting: instead of parenting to bring up good people, they parented to produce people who were always happy in the short term.

Ooops.

And since the next generation did not learn to work, only to gratify themselves and expect a reward anyway, and to fear nothing because the government will always come to the rescue with a check... oh dear.

So now the Social Security bank is broken. The country is going bankrupt. Far too few know how to work, or to budget, or actually to shoulder responsibility and pay for something.

I live in a nice neighborhood. Not a ritzy neighborhood, but a nice one. Yesterday I was in my van, turning into the development. In the nicely landscaped median at the entrance, where a brick structure proclaims the name of our location, beer bottles lay asunder amongst the dormant perennials. Signs of the next generation.

Are we having fun yet?