Response to criticism

Around the time of my birth, a group of the holier-than-thou in Congress decided that average Americans were too stupid, lazy or disorganized to save for their own retirement, so they created Social Security.  Soon after, they realized that action had two auxiliary benefits: 1) They could "borrow" from it to fund other debilitating programs such as welfare and other "entitlements" that destroy the human spirit, and encourage sloth and irresponsibility, and 2) The recipients of such largess could be recruited by their campaigns for re-election.

Soon after my children were born, while I just beginning to become politically aware and suffering the disappointment of the defeat of Barry Goldwater, Congress enacted Medicare, a program that resembled a giveaway that could also earn them voters in their search for lifelong "public service."   It spawned the proliferation of public health insurance, a concept created in Germany in the 1880s, and warmly embraced by Hitler.

Today, although the gigantic debt from the aforementioned follies threatens the downfall of the nation, I confess to letter writer Alissa Crane that I indeed use Social Security and Medicare because I need them, having made some bad career choices.  My children also honor me with some assistance. because, growing up, I did not dump their health care or their education on the government, and because family members help one another.

Crane might be advised that I have apologized here on several occasions for receiving more in benefits than I contributed to that old-age welfare system into which I was involuntarily enrolled.