Social Security and the "Greatest Generation"

[maxrandb]

Unfortunately, there are not enough people still alive today that can tell us what it was like before Social Security. The Repubs are counting on that as they complete their dream of destroying Social Security and the legacy of one of the greatest Americans to have ever occupied the White House.

My Grandmother died last year at the age of 99 and 9 months. She was born when Teddy Roosevelt was President. She lived WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, and everything else in between and since. I used to listen to her stories about what it was like back then. Unfortunately, there are not enough of her generation around to remind people about the devastating poverty that racked this country.

After several years of Republican control, FDR surveyed our devastated economy. He saw millions of elderly Americans, who's blood and sweat had built this magnificent country, living in poverty. The American people saw it too and realized that the true measure of a society is not reflected in the individual wealth you accumulate, but in how you care for the least among you. Those Americans made a commitment to the greater good, and implemented Social Security. It has been an unabashed success. Poverty among the elderly is no longer the norm.

When America was brutally attacked, FDR again went to the American people and asked them to sacrifice. Some made the ultimate sacrifice on foreign soil. Others went to work in the factories, rationed basic supplies, and held scrap metal drives. They became, rightly so, the Greatest Generation.

Conversely, when we were brutally attacked on 9/11, we were asked to "cut the marginal tax rate", "eliminate the inheritance tax", and "go shopping".

Makes you wonder what label history will give this generation.

[Warpy]

1. That "greatest generation"

is the one who derived the maximum beneifit from the New Deal then pulled the ladder up behind them, making sure their children and grandchildren wouldn't have the benefits they enjoyed.

Who do you think put Nixon and Reagan into office?

Greatest generation, my ass. Greatest selfishness, greatest shortsightedness, possibly.

[maxrandb]

2. Wow, Long on Hostility and Short on Facts Aren't We

Please give me an example of how they reaped the maximum benefit and then pulled up the ladder.

And who do I think put Nixon and Reagan in the White House. Well if we're blaming folks we could blame LBJ. His support of Civil Rights led to the creation of Nixon's "Southern Strategy" that also helped elect Reagan and every President since.

You could also blame Carter and Iran for Reagan. Funny how those evil empire islamist are partly responsible for the so-called "Reagan Revolution".

And need I remind you that these are the same people that gave a majority in the House and Senate to the Democrats from 1954 to 1994?

Why such vitriol Warpy? Someone cut you out of the will?

[Warpy]

3. Long on knee jerk defense and short on facts

but I suppose reading that fluff book about them does that to people.

Historically, it's the older generation who has the highest percentage of voters. So it would be the GG's PARENTS who put Democrats into office between 1954 and 1968 (which is the watershed year when Dems stopped being Dems and the Dixie Dems helped the GOP control things). The GG, if you will remember, started hitting their 50s and 60s in the early 70s, and this is when the New Deal dismantling started to take place.

I guess you had to be there.

I also think people who issue personal attacks don't last real long on these boards, so I'd suggest you learn how to attack the position without attacking the person.

[maxrandb]

4. I Thought I Did A Pretty Good Job Attacking the Position

So you know exactly who it was that voted in the early 70's?, and yet you can provide no example of the dismantling of the New Deal? Didn't we add some things in the 60's with the Great Society? Guess these horrible, terrible, selfish Americans must have napped all the way through to 1972.

If you were 18 in 1945, you would have been 53 (or dead) when Reagan was elected in 1980. Damn those 53 year olds.

If you were 30 in 1941, you would have been 69 when Reagan was elected.

If you were 18 in 1929, you would have been 61 in 1972.

In other words your argument seems to be that, "if you were lucky enough to live through the depression, WWII, Korea and Vietnam, you then screwed everthing up by casting a vote when you were in your 50's, 60's, or 70's."

Wow, that "really" makes sense.

The generation that brought us the current crisis is the Rush Limbaugh generation, not what history knows as the "Greatest Generation". Must suck to know that no matter what you think, history will still know them as the Greatest Generation.

Hope I haven't been too *cough* personal.