The Greater Generations ? ?

[plural]

I was in a discussion with some of my family
talking about politics which
given my utter failure to cling and/or
swear fealty to the democratic party

is rarely a boring or unanimated discussion

it started with bush but as we all know

its the economy stupid

so we went there

for the most part at this point it was mostly friendly
just sort of dissembling perceptions on the situation

then we got on the subject of social security

and

I stepped crushed a few of their toes

you see from their point of view and that of many older americans
their entitlement to social security is absolute
they paid money into it for forty years
and dammit they should get what they paid for

now being of a younger generation myself
raised on the reality
that a lottery ticket is a better investment in my future
than the payments I make to social security

I take a slightly less generous position

Look at my mother for example
as she seemed most shocked by my position
that government should either let social security flop
or morph it into welfare for senior citizens
[i.e. so seniors with money would not receive it]

while I completely understand her being upset
that the money being taken from her paycheck for social security
was squandered and spent on other things

I am not sympathetic

I mean, our parents generation
were the "fuck the man" generation
protesting government
declaring how untrustworthy it was
but for the past 30 years
they have failed to hold a single politician accountable
for the abuses of the social security trust fund

in my mind
it is the equivalent of knowing your accountant
is embezzling from you for thirty years
and then been outraged when there is no money left

while it is criminal for your accountant to embezzle
you also have a responsibility to respond
when you discover it

ignoring it for thirty years
and then going "oh shit"
is in my eyes grossly negligent

and to expect my generation
and my childrens generation
to work all their lives to fix the problem
[by paying into a system which they will not receive a benefit from]
becomes almost criminal neglect of civic and fiduciary responsibility