Social Security Works!: Why Social Security Isn t Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All - Softcover

Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson founded Social Security Works and co-chair the Strengthen Social Security Coaltion. Altman is a lawyer and the author of The Battle for Social Security. She resides in Bethesda, Maryland. Kingson is a professor at Syracuse University’s School of Social Work in Manlius, New York.

Chapter One: The Changing Conversation

"This is no time, this is the last time to be talking about cutting Social Security. This is the moment when we talk about expanding Social Security."
—Senator Elizabeth Warren, The Rachel Maddow Show, November 20, 2013

Whether you are a member of the Silent Generation or a Baby Boomer, whether a Gen Xer or a Millennial, this book is for you. It makes the case for why and how we can and must expand our Social Security system. And why doing so is excellent policy, excellent politics, and, most importantly, excellent for all Americans—young and old, women and men, people of all races and ethnicities.

For the many readers who have heard for decades that Social Security is going bankrupt and won’t be there in the future, the idea that it's not—and that there’s a movement to expand it—may come as a shock. If you are one of those readers, it is essential to your own and your family's well-being that you free yourself from what you think you know about Social Security.

Armed with misinformation and half-truths, a three-decade long, well-financed campaign has sought to dismantle Social Security, brick by brick. This campaign has been remarkably successful in undermining confidence in Social Security. In fact, the younger you are, the less confident you are likely to be that Social Security will exist when you need it.

The campaign has also been successful in convincing prominent politicians of both political parties that Social Security must be radically changed, or at least scaled back. The mainstream media has aided and abetted the campaign by uncritically accepting and advancing a panoply of misconceptions, while largely ignoring the facts.

While the campaign against Social Security has been successful in those ways, its hundreds of millions of dollars have failed to enact anti-Social Security legislation. Standing in the way, resolute, are the American people.

Politicians and the media decry how polarized our nation’s politics are. Electoral maps, depicting red states and blue states, provide a pictorial representation of that polarization. Hot-button topics like abortion, same-sex marriage, and immigration reform divide the electorate.

But there is one issue about which Americans are overwhelmingly united: they support Social Security. Poll after poll reveals this. The findings of a recent online survey of two thousand adults, ages 21 and over, conducted by Matthew Greenwald and Associates in collaboration with the non-partisan National Academy of Social Insurance, is a good example. A large majority of Americans believe that Social Security is more important than ever, do not mind contributing to Social Security because it provides security and stability, and believe that consideration should be given to expanding benefits.

Numerous polls show that Americans of all political affiliations—Republicans, Independents, Democrats, self-proclaimed Tea Partiers, union households, and progressives—support our Social Security system by large majorities. Conservatives may disagree with progressives about most political issues, but not about the importance of Social Security. Those from the Northeast may differ with those from the Deep South about many issues, but both groups support Social Security.

Virtually all demographic groups support Social Security. Men and women support Social Security. So do African-Americans, Hispanics, European-Americans, and other racial and ethnic groups. Every age group does, as well. Even younger Americans, who have bought the lie that Social Security won’t be there for them, nevertheless support the program for their parents and grandparents, and don’t want to see it cut.

And the support is not just widespread; it also runs very deep. Feelings for Social Security are so strongly held that one well-respected pollster, Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners, says this support is not just an indication of preference, but of values.

This view of the overwhelming majority of the American people should come as no surprise. The America we know today would not be possible without Social Security. This institution undergirds the economic security of virtually every American. And it gives expression to the American people’s best instincts—caring for our parents, children, and neighbors; working hard and contributing; engaging in self-help and mutual aid; respecting the dignity of each person; managing resources conservatively and prudently; and understanding that together we stand stronger. Old-fashioned ideas, perhaps, but still valuable, and fundamental to advancing strong families, communities, and our nation.

The current campaign to undermine Social Security is not a new battle. Although the moneyed interests and conservative ideologues have hated Social Security and battled against it since before it was enacted, the will of the people has always ultimately prevailed. The intensity of the battle and fields of engagement may ebb and flow, but the battle lines are always drawn. The current campaign against Social Security is simply the latest skirmish in that ongoing war. It’s a war we, the people, can and must win.