Some Sense Of Security

The government’s real financial problems are, “old people?”

This commentary is in response to David's article "Old People?" in which he tries to argue that government debt is a big enough issue that it should reduce funding for programs that help the elderly, financially. He incorporates the idea that the elderly as a growing population are leaving the younger generations with nothing but a soon-to-be struggling fate.

You have to understand the benefits like Social Security helps not only older Americans, but also workers who become disabled and families in which a spouse or parent dies. You’re basically saying that after however many years of working, people who are trying to receive their benefits by retiring, shouldn’t. During the course of their entire life their hard work, when in comparison to the importance of national defense and education, should be cut because they’re trying to collect their benefits that they have been putting into since they started their career.

Instead of reducing these programs we should try and figure out a permanent benefit that will suffice a growing population. These programs such as social security will eventually run out but until then our taxes are paying for people who are eligible to obtain these benefits. If anything I think these “old people” deserve these benefits more than we do.

Since older people are voting to not reduce these programs, can you really blame their disregard of the younger generation on the elderly? It’s our fault that young adults these days aren’t more involved in politics. If we want reform then we need to be involved, and since we aren’t as concerned as our elders were, we suffer; it’s as easy as that. Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University observed that, “from Medicare to Social Security to Medicaid, the older people just have a greater interest in voting than younger people who don’t see the same benefits.”

Because our generation doesn’t have the need for these government-sponsored programs such as Medicaid and Medicare we don’t understand the genuine importance. Since, in Texas, our parents (if assumingly, they pay for your insurance) are able to insure us up until the age of 25. At this point I feel like the younger generation just takes what they have for granted and doesn’t evaluate how important these federal insurance programs are. 

You would think, as the population grows, people would be more inclined to embrace the protection of their future. If we really want to see a change then the younger generation needs to step it up and become more involved in government affairs. We’re watching funded programs crumble because of a lack of involvement to reshape what could be our future programs.