Answering the Tea Party/Medicare argument
One of the Left's favorite arguments against the Tea Party movement and some of its older members is essentially this:
How can you be against government-run health care when you're depending on Medicare? Hypocrite.I'd been planning to blog my response to this oft-repeated point when I read the perfect answer in Wednesday's Letters to the Editor section of the RJ.
To the editor:Well said, Don.
In his March 31 letter, Robert Bencivenga states that attendees at the March 27 Searchlight Tea Party event who are over 65 and collecting federal benefits through Medicare were hypocrites.
Let me get this straight: These people were forced into a program where the federal government took money from every paycheck they earned and, in return, promised a benefit if they reached a set retirement age.
Now, after all the years of forced participation, they are cashing in on this investment, and they are hypocrites?
Seems to reinforce the idea of privatization for me. I wish I had all the money the government has collected "for" me over 40 years of working and paying in. Wonder what that would be worth today?
DON DIECKMANN
HENDERSON
Liberals, you shouldn't be surprised/shocked when the people you've taken money from for 40-plus years while promising retirement benefits actually expect you to fulfill your promise.
Although, considering the current liberal leadership, I can understand why leftists are surprised that the rest of America expects government to keep its word.
