“Didn’t you pay in to Social Security and Medicare? That’s not true of TANF, SNAP, farm subsidies and the rest, at least not directly.”
I would remind all those here, FICA (social security) goes by the real name of “Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax”
Clearly, even in it’s name is the word “insurance”. It was designed and sold to the citizens an insurance... Why would anyone think one did not have a “right” to collect on your “insurance”?
It’s true that the politicians stole all the money, but that doesn’t mean it’s not owed.
The same is true of decades of promises of “free healthcare for you and your dependents” which led many a person to do 20 or more years in the service and then was welshed on.
I accept your point. But you also understand that there are Social Security recipients that haven’t paid into the system? And that most everyone who reaches retirement age will eventually draw more out of the system in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits than they put into it?