Debate over Social Security in Republican party circles ranges between eliminating it entirely, “weaning” us from it like Tea Party crazy Michele Bachmann wants to do, or just cutting benefits for senior citizens and raising the retirement age to 70 as John Boehner wants.
Faced with those dire prospects, it was a relief to read Sen. Tracy Potter’s proposal to fix Social Security by having millionaires pay the same Federal Insurance Contributions Act rate on their earnings that I do.
It’s an optimistic plan and it inspires me to think that the future can be brighter, not dimmer. I get the feeling that some Republicans want us to permanently accept insecurity, poverty and homelessness as inevitable in the future. Potter’s idea takes one piece of that future and restores the health of the system that generations of Americans have relied on for a base on which to build their retirements. It guarantees that Social Security will still be there when today’s young people reach retirement age.
That’s the kind of long-range, optimistic thinking I want from my U.S. senator.
Helen Tracy, Bismarck
Tags: helen tracy, opinion, letters
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