Home of Today’s Common Sense

Published - Brownsville Herald November 13, 2005
You may have noticed that that we now have a name for my column, not just “Contributing Columnist”. I chose “Today’s Common Sense” for several reasons, firstly because I hope it encourages the native good judgment in those who read it. Secondly, as sort of a continuation of Thomas Paine’s good works. He was also a former Customs or Excise Collector, and he believed that “Rights and Liberties were the essence of a person’s humanity. I find that I share many of Mr. Paine’s beliefs as well as his practical application of them.
On March 3 the Brownsville Herald published my perspective of Social Security entitled “Government just wants to maintain its power. “
I believe more than ever that a reform is critical, not as much because I worry about the solvency but because we can not trust our “Rulers” both at the State and Federal levels, to have the interests of retirees at heart and do anything but seize more power from the people that they are supposed to serve - not rule.
The proposals for social security described in the, Libertarian, Cato Institute Brochure on the Social Security remodeling “Its Your Money” describe a system, similar to the Federal Employees Retirement System, in effect now for more than ten years, that promises to treat all retirees fairly. That alone is a big change.
Current systems deprive many retired public servants of the social security benefits that they contributed towards.
Read the rest of this entry »