Gutting Social Security isn’t ‘efficient’ — it’s a broken promise. Democrats and Republicans should stand up and fight back to protect it.
Social Security is not charity. Americans pay in, paycheck after paycheck, over a lifetime of hard work. When they get older, they get that money back to help them retire. That’s the iron-clad, take-it-to-the-bank promise that America makes to workers.
But right now, Social Security is under attack like it has never been before. Billionaire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said seniors won’t complain if they miss a Social Security check. Elon Musk called Social Security the ‘world’s biggest Ponzi scheme.’ Musk then sent his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to gut the agency by indiscriminately firing workers, closing down offices, and trying to cut phone services.
What does it mean to slash staff and services with no rhyme or reason? Two things: more mistakes in delivering checks to Americans, and fewer workers to fix those mistakes. And when people don’t get their checks, that’s a cut to the benefits they have earned.
Mistakes are already showing up. After DOGE got its hands on Social Security, Ned, a retiree from Washington state, was marked ‘dead’ in the Social Security system — despite being very much alive. He had $5,000 in benefits snatched right out of his bank account (paid while he was ‘dead’) and his monthly checks ceased. Ned spent weeks trying to fix the mistake and still hasn’t gotten paid back for two months of missing checks.
Or take Tom and Chris from Westborough, Massachusetts, whose son has autism. For years, disability benefits through Social Security have helped pay for his care. And for years, those benefits have come through on time, without fail. But when they checked their son’s Social Security account recently, his benefits had been terminated. No explanation — just stopped. The money eventually came through, but it led to panic over how they would pay the bills.
