Social Security and Welfare, Whole New Meanings

Social Security is a hot button topic. Most people do not realize that the term did not come from a program. “Social Security” came from, well a concept of social security. The term came from an association pushing for the welfare of seniors. Social Security is all about welfare. Welfare is not a dirty word. It means the welfare of people. “He checked in on my welfare and was sure that I felt alright”.

Just for a second apply welfare and social security to the riots. I think we can say that they lack any social security and are not good for the welfare of the communities. So we all have to ask if the disruption of social security and welfare is justified for some reason. I reckon you could claim that the social violence is necessary for the welfare of minorities. Sorry but that is a real stretch.

We have security in our home. Doors lock, money in the bank (not enough ;-), good police protection, good school for our son, the right to worship and speak our mind.

But wait, many of my neighbors did not fly their American flags for Independence Day. Truly out of fear of attack. That is not social security. Yes I am a neighbor that walks a mile or more a day in the neighborhood and asks such questions while maintaining social distancing. So for civil unrest perhaps it is a battle for who gets security. That sounds strange.

Hey here is one you may not be aware of; you pay for your entire Social Security contribution. Oh for sure. If you are hired for 100K that means your employer can afford to pay about 115K for your position. The employer’s contribution is paid for directly from money you would otherwise receive as pay. That is a no brainer.

How would I fix that problem with the system? That is a really cool question. And it is a question we must constantly ask and constantly adjust the solutions. The current system seems to be working in the “benefits” part, but that is on the backs of workers and not employers. Yet change it and employers will go broke or fire employees – really.

Maybe we should look at tax credits. But in my mind we should be able to do away with this broken system and somehow shift the burden to that great notion of 50% from Employer and 50% from employee.

Now, just for me. I would rather that my employer pay into the system their amount and pay me less. I cannot save a buck so having the employer pay into some social security and welfare for my retirement is a good idea. My wife agrees. Look, we live in California. We do not complain about higher taxes. We think we get really good benefits from them. Now we do have serious issues with welfare frauds. And we would like to see more money go into actually into services rather than some or our more “bloated” bureaucracies.

Schools are an interesting one. We expect our schools to do a decent job. And our local one does that and a bit more. But the education and social security of our son is at home. As we see it, raising a child is a family issue and not a school issue as our child’s welfare is our concern. But there are benefits enough at school to where a baseline can be met by any student that has been taught to care about education.

Families can destroy the social security of the child. They can take away the welfare aspect for a child. So sad, but that is something we cannot legislate away. But we can help through private donation and mentoring.

Social security requires social responsibility I think. At least I think I think that. But just assume a mother of two gets hooked on drugs. True addiction is a medical condition. She cannot take good care of her two young school aged children. Well we have serious social security and welfare issues there. Now in many cultures and sub-cultures this is handled one of two ways. Take the children away and let the system take care of the child. Or pay the other “family” members to take care of the child. That is a “welfare” system, not optimum but some type of social security for the children.

Welfare and security of society are great notions. Doing it right is one of the toughest jobs our elected officials have. Of course I am bright enough to yell at a TV and tell them how to do it.

I saw some hogwash about taking benefits away. Totally ridiculous and never intended to happen. But I saw some ideas that suggest getting rid of the current Social Security bureaucracy, I see that they will be tweaking it as we go.

Love and compassion. To me that is social security. It just seems to me that a great big real hug contributes to my welfare and feeling of security. I promise you that that is true for children and old people. Yes we still need a roof over our head and food to eat and some medical attention from time to time. Well here, where I live that safety net is there for the simple asking for it. I think that is fine. I think both candidates think that is a good idea.

Too much, “hate this and hate that”. In fact that could be the definition of social insecurity. If someone hates my president that is really not good for my welfare. I did not support most presidents during my lifetime but I never hated one and never did not support them as the leaders of America.

It is cool if you think about it. For social security respect has to flow both ways. The people being lead must respect their leaders and the leaders must respect who they lead. I call that security.

The beauty of uniqueness is in society that is civil. I think it is important to be unique. Therefor I do not expect you to agree with me. I expect you to respect me and that is social security.

So unless you have a derangement syndrome against Mr. Biden, a public servant most his life, against Mr. Trump because he is a unique leader. Let us talk about Social Security and not just throw garbage around to see what sticks.

Social Security is not on anyone’s agenda to destroy. Just as for most, social security is treasured. America is fantastic. And part of the reason is that we have a system where we don’t have to dismantle, we can do better standing on the firm ground knowing we can always fall back safely.

I have lived in many a country and they are unique and worth visiting at least. I could go on about simpler lives being more in touch with nature or the wonders of a fully ordered society. But nowhere is there more democracy and a better safety net. We darned well have a right to fail here and not be lost. Our social security and welfare of all the people makes that possible. Which makes us great.

So we do not have to do all that for our fellow man, but we “get” to. This is a civil society with a love and compassion at the root of most of it.