THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502250007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
It's bad enough when the elderly are preyed upon by street hoodlums, but when editors publish letters accusing the elderly of stealing from their kids without checking the facts, its unconscionable.
Contrary to public opinion, the majority of the elderly are neither healthy, wealthy nor wise. The elderly are lucky to crawl out of bed each morning and, like old cars, are constantly in need of repairs.
The Social Security system was created to allow the elderly to live with dignity in their declining years. Unfortunately, the system has become encrusted with barnacles, termites and parasites and is just another federal welfare program.
Today the principal beneficiaries of SS and SSI are the federal government, the bureaucracy, alcoholics, drug addicts, felons, illegal immigrants, refugees, etc., many of whom have never paid a dime into the system. Is it any wonder the system is foundering?
The federal government uses the SS trust funds as a finger bowl, dipping into it to reduce the deficit while the bloated bureaucracy grows. When taxpayers protest this flimflam, the politicians' first words are that we must cut SS and SSI because the elderly are living off the fat of the land.
The elderly, who have suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and overcome a sea of troubles in bringing this nation to the doorsteps of the 21st century, are most certainly entitled to their accrued benefits.
The only crime the elderly ever committed was growing old, and they will not go quietly into that good night.
DAVID S. SILVERMAN
Virginia Beach, Feb. 12, 1995 by CNB