Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised:
1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary,
2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the Program,
3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year,
4.) That the money the participants put into the independent "Trust Fund" rather than into the General operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and,
5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.

Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month -- and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to "put away," you may be interested in the following:

Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent "Trust" fund and put it into the General fund so that Congress could spend it?

A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democratic-controlled House and Senate.

Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

A: The Democratic Party.

Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?

A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the "tie-breaking" deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the U.S.

Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?

A: That's right! Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive SSI Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!

Then, after doing all this lying and thieving and violation of the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!

And the worst part about it is, uninformed citizens believe it!

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during this 2004 election year!

Our Senators and Congressmen do not pay any FICA deductions into the Social Security Trust Fund, and, of course, they do not collect annuities from it.

You see, such tiny Social Security benefit annuities were not suitable for persons of their rare elevation in society. They felt they should have a "special plan" for themselves. So, many years ago they simply created and voted in their own benefit plan, commonly referred to as the "Golden Fleece Retirement Plan."

In more recent years, only one Congressman (Ron Paul R TX) has felt the need to change it. After all, it is a great "plan." For all practical purposes their "plan" works like this: When they retire (even after serving only ONE day in the Congress), they continue to draw their full salary until they die. However, their salaries continue to increase each year, for cost-of-living adjustments (COLA).

For example, former Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives. This is calculated on an average life span for each of those two Dignitaries. Younger Dignitaries who retire at an early age, will receive much more during the rest of their lives.

Their cost for this excellent plan is $0.00. NADA....ZILCH.... This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General Funds; "OUR TAX DOLLARS A WORK"!

From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have involuntarily paid) into, -- every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer) -- we can expect to get an average of $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits! The fraud doesn't stop there. There are many thousands of hard-working Americans who previously worked in private industry, paying the full FICA amounts into the Program for the "agreed-upon" 40-quarters. The workers then entered Federal Service, worked for many additional years, while paying into the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Fund. These workers finally retired, expecting to receive the "agreed-upon" annuities from each of the two Programs (FICA and CSRS) under which they had been employed during the decades of their faithful service. However, in the meantime, the Democrats, having gutted the Social Security Trust Fund into insolvancy by their annual thefts to fund various "Pork-Barrel" projects in their own States' Congressional Districts, decided to also "access" the solvent CSRS Trust Fund! The Democrats invented a term to incite envy against these CSRS retirees, calling it "double- dipping." The Democrats then passed laws to steal 2/3 of these workers' Social Security annuities, and called it the "Offset" Provision

Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made:

That change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us .. then sit back and watch how fast they would fix it. If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe good changes will evolve.