Medicare and Social Security are not entitlements, they're part of the social contract we sign on to when we enter the workforce. The Medicare and Social Security contracts to which we have been faithfully adhering can and will be changed unless we take an unprecedented step - we need to make it known that any and all changes to the social contracts as they have existed for decades will be met with a class action lawsuit.
Ryan Plan? Everyone under 55 could be a party to a class action lawsuit - the enactment of such a plan would amount to the theft of billions of dollars that under-55s have paid into the system, which presumably would not be repaid (but the rich get to keep their tax cut).
Catfood Commission? A proposal that raises both the Social Security tax and the retirement age, while at the same time lowering the corporate tax rate, constitutes a breach of contract for everyone who has been paying into the system until now. We pay more for longer and get less, and social welfare is replaced with corporate welfare. It's a bait and switch.
In such a lawsuit, I would be an advocate of naming the persons responsible for the proposals as parties to the suit. Representative Ryan is culpable; the six members of the Catfood Commission are culpable. The effect of which (hopefully) would be to make life legally miserable for those that propose to fundamentally alter or simply do away with the contracts to which we, the American workers, have been faithful adherents for all of our working lives. If you put your name on "entitlement slashing" you will be wrapped up in a legal battle for years.
These proposals would change the contracts without our approval. We need to let them know before they attempt it that we don't approve, and there will be consequences. We need to make it clear that any attempt to abolish, replace or defund Social Security or Medicare will result in the mother of all class action lawsuits against the government by those who are already invested in the programs as they exist. The legal threat to the government to take such action needs to be overwhelming enough to convince anyone that this is no longer a topic worthy of discussion.
At this point I don't know the best approach to this, however. If it was merely a petition
I'd start one today. I'm open to opinions, and I apologize if this is an idea that's already been out there (if so let me know where to sign on).