Dear Mr. Simpson,
My name is Larime Taylor, and I'm one of the group of people within that 310 million that no one ever talks about or even acknowledges exists. While you rail at Pink Panthers and seniors who milk the system in one breath, then claim to sound the alarm about seniors slipping into poverty in the next, you - like so many others - miss the part where the system as it stands is actively forcing people like me to live in poverty.
Who are we?
We're the disabled.
First of all, let's both agree that the Social Security system is not in immediate crisis, and is in fact, even in today's terrible economy, solvent until 2037. That is a simple fact.
Your proclamations that you are trying to protect a system that you accuse recipients of 'milking' ring false, especially in light of your view on the system as a cow with '310 million tits' - the technical term, Mr. Simpson, would be teats. You cry about the plight of seniors slipping into poverty while ignoring the millions of disabled that are held in poverty because of boogeymen like 'lazy young bucks'. The reality is simple, Mr. Simpson: if I try to work to get off of Social Security, I lose my aid care that I cannot live without. My choice is to remain in poverty and get my aid care, or to try and work without the ability to feed, dress or relieve myself. How long would I remain employed if I was unable to dress or change my clothes, especially if I can't use the bathroom? The irony, of course, is that those who claim to support 'life' also belong to the party that tells me that I am a drain on society, and that their hard earned money shouldn't go to keeping me out of poverty. What a nice world you must live in.
This myth of lazy people claiming disability to avoid working and live for free is just that - a myth. This is hardly living, Mr. Simpson.
You ask us to offer real solutions, and I will offer you several. Raise the income limit on those who pay into the system. Increase the limits on how much the disabled may earn before losing their benefits so that we can climb out of poverty to a healthy, sustainable level before cutting us off. Reduce or eliminate the benefits of those who receive them but do not need them - it makes little sense to keep one person in poverty while paying another money they do not need. That is where the REAL waste comes in.
I was born with a birth defect and am a quad as a result. I live on $750 a month. In what first-world nation is that even enough? My care provider makes just under a thousand dollars a month taking care of me, a woeful sum for what is an undesirable job that is very demanding. In order to just survive, we must live together and pool our resources. While this goes on, we bemoan the cost of Social Security's '310 million tits' even as we justify extending the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans? That we are even having these debates is a joke, Mr. Simpson. A joke and charade that you help perpetuate with fear-mongering and belittlement of those who seek to do better. Worst of all is the fact that you know the truth and do this, anyway.
Shame on you, Mr. Simpson. Let us know when you get a real job and decide to stop lying to the people who pay your salary.
Sincerely,
Larime Taylor
[Update] Yes, I DID send this to him via the email Atrios dug up.