- Christians are persecuted in this country.
- The government is coming to get your guns.
- Obama is a Muslim.
- Global Warming is a hoax.
- The president is forcing open homosexuality on the military.
- Schools push a left-wing agenda.
- Social Security is an entitlement, no different from welfare.
- Obama hates white people.
- The life on earth is 10,000 years old and so is the universe.
- The safety net contributes to poverty.
- The government is taking money from you and giving it to sex-crazed college women to pay for their birth control.
#6 is a big one as this is how the Right perpetuates these lies. In all too typical Cult like behavior, they accuse teachers of brainwashing their kids and attempts to prevent them from being critical thinkers. This is exactly where logical fallacies like misleading vividness, appeal to fear enter the mix.
So when you here one of these or some sort of combination, ask to see the unbiased evidence based on peer reviewed study to support their assertion. The response will undoubtedly be anecdata.
8 comments:
How is SocSec not an entitlement and how is it different from welfare?
Well because it is an insurance program from one thing, and definitely not welfare.
But I wanted to say, Mark, that although your list is good, there are undoubtedly people and/or groups with agendas who do indeed plan or are trying to do those things. Everything is relative.
Gina, you should post more often:)
SocSec is not insurance. The Supreme Court has ruled that benefits are entirely disconnected from money put in (which is just plain ol' taxes). So legally and structurally - it is anything but insurance. Of course politicians are quick and frequent to lie about this. If you don't believe me about this, I can give you a Mother Jones link that says the same thing.
It actually is an insurance program. Please give me the citation and the quote from the Supreme C ourt case that says otherwise. It is taxable beyond the first $25,000 of benefits received up to a certain point. ANd yes it has not that much to do with how much you put in, which, like fire insurance, car insurance, home insurance, etc., is likely to be much more than you benefit from. Although when the program goes both ways. For example, smokers usually don't collect as much as they contribute, while some people like 40 years past retirement and collect much more than their contributions. I suppose veterans benefits are also welfare too, since on the first day of battle you could become disabled or killed and you or your family collect for years even though you really didn't do much?
Kevin Drum on how SocSec was sold as "insurance" (or other people talk of "investing" in SocSec).
SCotUS on taxes (not 'contributions') and benefits.
Gina, your comparison of veteran's benefits to welfare is more than a little wrong, and more than a little nauseating. If you think that after putting your life on the line for your country, and becoming permanently disabled, the government paying a not-very-generous disability benefit in compensation for your having lost a significant portion of your life (in lost abilities, in lost income, in loss of who knows what) is mere welfare, then I just honestly don't know what to say. You simply have no clue.
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