Social Security is a promise between generations. When far-sighted visionaries like President Franklin Roosevelt and Frances Perkins imagined what would come to be today’s Social Security system, they were thinking about the workers and their families who would rely on Social Security for years to come.
For 91 years, Social Security has been how Americans take care of each other. For 91 years, people across our country have fought to protect the hard-earned Social Security benefits that rightfully belong to everyone. To honor Social Security’s 91st birthday, we are renewing our commitment to stay in that fight.
It’s hard to imagine what it would have been like to be alive during the Great Depression. With millions of workers unemployed, it would have been difficult to overcome a sense of pervasive hopelessness and despair. But the founders of Social Security didn’t lose hope. They knew that it was possible to come together in community and solidarity. They imagined a better, more economically secure future. We also share that same ability to imagine and fight for a better future. If the founders of Social Security were able to resist being demoralized by the Great Depression, we can overcome our current circumstances.
The founders of Social Security laid down a gauntlet for future generations. It’s up to us to continue to carry out this vision of a society where we all join together to take care of each other.
While their fight will never be finished, the founders of Social Security laid down a gauntlet for future generations. It’s up to us to continue to carry out this vision of a society where we all join together to take care of each other. As part of that effort, Social Security Works held a town hall to celebrate Social Security’s 91st birthday, providing a reminder of the work that needs to be done to continue FDR’s legacy.
As former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley put it, “We believe that we’re all in this together.” O’Malley is articulating the greatness of Social Security, the way it ties families and communities to each other. In a resolute note of defiance, O’Malley warned, “That’s what we do through Social Security, and ain’t nobody going to take it from us or from our grandchildren.”
Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works, explains why Social Security has worked so well for 91 years, and how it can continue working well for the indefinite future: continuing to protect working people by making sure the wealthiest pay their fair share. Lawson observed, “You have billionaires pay into Social Security on all their income like the rest of us do, and then we can prevent cuts and actually expand benefits.”
As former Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley articulated, Social Security represents the highest and best of American values. O’Malley noted that “Social Security is the greatest act of compassion and caring that a free people had ever enacted of, by, and for themselves.”
Striking the same optimistic note as former Commissioner O’Malley, Social Security Works Executive Director Alex Lawson shared his confidence that today’s generation of activists can win this chapter of the fight for Social Security’s future: “We are the cavalry. We can build whatever future we can imagine, and Social Security is the crown jewel of that society that we can imagine, a society that takes care of ourselves. That’s why I’m so certain that we will win this fight.”
As Social Security turns 91, its future hangs in the balance. In just five years, Congress must take action, or allow a 22 percent benefit cut to go into effect. Rather than cut our hard-earned benefits, Congress should make millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share, so we can protect and expand benefits for everyone.
