Remaining Calm

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM, an apparent proponent of personal political expediency, once upon a time proclaimed that Donald Trump is a "race baiting bigot", or something to that effect. That was way back in the day, 2016 to be approximate, when Graham himself harbored notions of seeking and securing the Rethuglican nomination to run for president. Now, of course, he's onboard the great reprobate train, even as Trump repeatedly proves the truth of his earlier, astute assessment. Much is determined when one abides assiduously by bellwethers. Lack of core value integrity notwithstanding, Graham, like the proverbial squirrel seeking acorns, occasionally hits the mark, when the mark is bigger than the side of a barn. In reference to Social Security, among other pension programs, he recently asserted: "we are making promises we cannot keep". That, I thought, should be transparently obvious to all. The fund is predicted to expire for lack of funds..when.. twenty thirty one? The death date keeps inching closer, owing to both updated estimates of its inevitable expiration date, and the inevitable passage of time, like two freight trains, speeding in opposite directions on a single track. All I typed in was something like: "That's a damned shame", or maybe "the old blind squirrel found an acorn", I don't remember which. Seemingly meaninglessly innocuous, whatever. Up from the bowels of the Earth emerged the righteously indignant. In all capital letters, to boot, a sure sign of righteously indignant outrage. Only, it was the same old, tired, disappointing saw. SOCIAL SECURITY IS NOT AN ENTITLEMENT!!! ( I forget the precise number of exclamation points. I am confident it was more than one, no fewer than three). WE PAID INTO THAT PROGRAM!!! (again, at least one, no less than three). The rest of the message becomes cloudy through redundancy, but went something like; THAT MONEY IS OURS, WE EARNED IT, WE DESERVE IT, AND WE INTEND TO GET IT!!!! WHAT, EXACTLY, IS YOUR POINT??? (three question marks, I clearly remember). And then, mercifully: "YOUR TURN". Those two words, and the absence of any excessive punctuation behind them, encouraged me. The message might have even been more intelligent than that, might have even included a fact or two which hasn't already been stated a trillion times, but..well...it just doesn't matter. I began my reply by saying "No need to argue among friends..lol..calm down. The point is, that when an investment fund, any investment fund, goes bankrupt, loses solvency, and is unable to meet its promises, its obligations, all the sanctimonious truth telling in the world about who paid what to whom, and who owes what to whom, and what is right and wrong, makes, at the end of the day (I don't think I actually used that horrible cliche, at least I hope not) matter not. When money is gone, its gone, and all the truth telling in the world will not recover it". I could have said more, about the futility of hysterical righteous indignation in the face of financial reality, but didn't. Looming Social Security insolvency, like all other problems created by human folly, including climate change, economic collapse, and the designated hitter, is amenable to simple solutions, readily available. But no matter how many words we type in all caps, no matter how many exclamation points and question marks we spew across our computer screens, no matter how hysterical we become, no matter how vehemently and vociferously and doggedly we argue amongst ourselves, those simple, easily accessible solutions remain, unemployed, gathering dust on the top shelf, until we the problem makers calm down, stop screaming at each other, and put them to work. And we can do it with smiles on our faces, in all lower case letters, with nary a punctuation mark in sight.