{"id":2584003,"date":"2026-03-26T10:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-dems-tout-clip-that-accidentally-proves-truth-about-social-security\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T10:33:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:33:38","slug":"senate-dems-tout-clip-that-accidentally-proves-truth-about-social-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-dems-tout-clip-that-accidentally-proves-truth-about-social-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Dems Tout Clip That Accidentally Proves Truth About Social Security"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsenate-dems-tout-clip-that-accidentally-proves-truth-about-social-security%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2584003&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>&#8211; The article opens by riffing on classic lies and adds a fourth: \u201cYou paid into Social Security all your life. That money is yours.\u201d It argues this framing is misleading: Social Security is an entitlement, not a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ted-cruz-seeks-to-expand-accessibility-to-healthcare-through-pre-tax-savings-accounts\/\" title=\"Ted Cruz aims to enhance healthcare accessibility via pre...tax savings accounts.\">personal savings account<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; It explains how the program actually works: the government uses current workers\u2019 payroll taxes to pay today\u2019s beneficiaries, while the pool of workers shrinks and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pope-francis-decries-exaltation-of-youth-and-contempt-for-old-age\/\" title=\"Pope Francis Decries \u2018Exaltation of Youth\u2019 and \u2018Contempt for Old Age\u2019\">people live longer<\/a>, driving up costs and overhead.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; A June 2025 Social Security trustees report (cited via CNBC) projects that benefits will start to fall sharply around 2033, highlighting long-term solvency concerns.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The piece emphasizes the structural problem: the program\u2019s finances depend on more contributors and fewer beneficiaries over time, plus rising administrative costs, which complicates the idea that \u201cyour money\u201d is being saved for you.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; it reviews a public debate about how payroll taxes hit different incomes. In a discussion between Sen. Patty Murray and the Congressional Budget Office,it\u2019s shown that low- to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >moderate-income workers effectively pay<\/a> about 12.4% on their first portion of earnings, while millionaires pay onyl a small fraction (around 2.2% on their first portion, and nearly zero for billionaires) due to how the cap and benefits work.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The article argues this discrepancy fuels political resistance to reform, noting that high-profile lawmakers don\u2019t want to present changes as tax increases or to attack Social Security directly.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; It also notes current proposals and realities, such as benefit caps (monthly max around $5,181 in 2026) and talk of capping benefits for high-earning couples, which the author suggests would not solve the underlying funding problem.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The author concludes that labeling Social Security as an entitlement is more honest than framing it as a personal savings plan, and that meaningful reform is needed even if it\u2019s politically risky. The piece uses rhetorical flourishes about the \u201cthird rail\u201d of politics and a nod to American founding rhetoric to underscore the difficulty of confronting the program\u2019s fragility.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>There goes an old joke about the three biggest lies ever told. The first can&rsquo;t be repeated in a family publication. The second: &ldquo;The check is in the mail.&rdquo; The third: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m from the government, and I&rsquo;m here to help.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>To this, I think we should add a fourth: &ldquo;You paid into Social Security all your life. That money is yours.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Theoretically, of course, that would be nice, which is why it&rsquo;s been sold to you that way. Politicians will occasionally admit that this&nbsp;<em>isn&rsquo;t<\/em> the case &mdash; remember <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/milloy-al-gore-got-climate-wars-wrong\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Al Gore&rsquo;s<\/a> famous &ldquo;lockbox?&rdquo; &mdash; but by and large the federal government pretends <em>they&rsquo;re<\/em> just keeping <em>your<\/em> money under <em>their<\/em> mattress for you because, you know, reasons. Can&rsquo;t be too safe!<\/p>\n<p>Well apparently, someone&rsquo;s been raiding that mattress, because a June 2025 trustees report indicated that benefits will start sharply decreasing in 2033, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/select\/will-social-security-run-out-heres-what-you-need-to-know\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CNBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s because how the program actually works is that the government takes your money and puts it under the mattress they use to pay the people who used to pay into it &mdash; and not only is the number of payees growing smaller, the number of people living longer is growing larger, and there&rsquo;s also ballooning government overhead.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>But, they&rsquo;ll tell you, it&rsquo;s still&nbsp;<em>your money<\/em>. Unless they&rsquo;re speaking frankly, as Sen. Patty Murray of Washington &mdash; a Democrat, in case you needed to ask &mdash; did on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Murray was speaking with Molly Dahl, the chief of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cbo-debt-estimates-destroy-bidens-big-deficit-reduction-claims\/\" title=\"CBO Debt Estimates Destroy Biden\u2019s Big Deficit Reduction Claims\">long-term analysis<\/a> at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, about what people pay into Social Security by income level.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Is it right that those making under $184,500, their effective payroll tax rate is roughly 12.4 percent?&rdquo; Murray asked.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s right, the statutory rate is 6.2 percent, but consensus view is that the employee pays, basically the employer cost is passed onto the employee, so the employee basically faces a rate of 12.4 percent,&rdquo; Dahl said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;What is the effective payroll tax for someone making a million dollars a year?&rdquo; Murray said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So, they would pay the 12.4 percent on that first $185,00 roughly and then would not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/europe-burns-cash-to-help-businesses-in-deepening-energy-crisis\/\" title=\"Europe burns cash to help businesses in deepening energy crisis\">pay additional tax<\/a> on the labored income above that amount, and so that math would work out to about 2.2 percent,&rdquo; Dahl responded.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;OK, so, 12.4 percent for someone under $184,500, a millionaire would be about 2.2, what if you&rsquo;re a billionaire &mdash; like Trump or Musk&mdash;your Social Security tax would be effectively, on my understanding&mdash;&rdquo; Murray continued.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Very, very much smaller,&rdquo; Dahl said, to which Murray asked, &ldquo;0.002 percent?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; Dahl said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;That just doesn&rsquo;t make sense to me,&rdquo; Murray said.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">MURRAY: Is it true that people making under $184k pay a 12.4% Social Security tax rate?<\/p>\n<p>DAHL: Yes.<\/p>\n<p>MURRAY: And the rate for someone making $1 million?<\/p>\n<p>DAHL: 2.2%.<\/p>\n<p>MURRAY: So, a 12.4% tax for people making less than $184k, but 2.2% for a millionaire or .0002% for billionaires. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vgQWi886Ut\">pic.twitter.com\/vgQWi886Ut<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Senate Budget Democrats (@SenateBudget) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenateBudget\/status\/2036842191096533487?\">March 25, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It doesn&rsquo;t &mdash; if, of course, you admit that Social Security isn&rsquo;t &ldquo;paying into&rdquo; anything but an entitlement program. Because billionaires like Donald Trump or Elon Musk, they don&rsquo;t get what they paid into Social Security in their dotage.<\/p>\n<p>A peak monthly benefit is capped at $5,181 per individual if you retire at 70 in 2026, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssa.gov\/faqs\/en\/questions\/KA-01897.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Security Administration<\/a>, and Congress is looking at capping benefits at $100,000 a year for couples, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/new-proposal-would-cap-social-security-benefits-100k-wealthy-couples\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fox Business<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So, in other words, this isn&rsquo;t a contribution &mdash; it&rsquo;s a straight-up tax to pay for people who haven&rsquo;t paid into the system. Which is fine, if you want to admit that&rsquo;s what it is: an entitlement.<\/p>\n<p>Other people are paying for you, just as you paid for other people. Something has to be done, because of the mess we&rsquo;ve gotten ourselves into &mdash; and I&rsquo;m not saying that taxapalooza 2026 is the answer, given the pittance it would generate, but doing nothing isn&rsquo;t, either.<\/p>\n<p>But herein lies the problem: Murray won&rsquo;t sell this as a tax on the campaign trail, and neither will anyone else. Nor will anyone agree to touch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/woman-pleads-guilty-operating-lucrative-social-security-scam-25-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Security<\/a>, which is the third rail of American politics.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, it has almost become an addendum to the Declaration of Independence at this point: &ldquo;We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness &hellip; and also you paid into Social Security all your life; that&rsquo;s <em>your<\/em> money, and don&rsquo;t anyone dare touch it.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s how we got into this mess. That&rsquo;s how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/doge-trump-save-social-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Security<\/a> became <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssa.gov\/history\/percent.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">22.6 percent<\/a> of federal expenditures.<\/p>\n<p>Taxing a few billionaires may sound nice, but that won&rsquo;t get us out. Sen. Murray&rsquo;s solution is&nbsp;<em>prima facie<\/em> bunkum. However, if we threw away the rhetoric and started talking about it like the program it actually is, maybe &mdash; just <em>maybe<\/em> &mdash; we&rsquo;d steer the ship of entitlement largesse away from the iceberg of reality, no matter how much the passengers whinge that they spent all their life to ride the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/oceangate-disaster-another-billionaire-plans-see-titanic-wreckage-will-spend-millions-trip\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">unsinkable SS Social Security<\/a> and they&rsquo;ll be darned if some fools let their voyage be troubled by any delay.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s a paraphrase of the main ideas in the passage:<\/p>\n<p>A familiar joke about lies is used to frame Social Security: people talk about \u201cyour money\u201d being yours, but in practice politicians act like the funds are theirs to use. A June 2025 Social Security Trustees report, cited by CNBC, suggests that benefits will start to fall sharply around 2033. The underlying problem is that the program takes workers\u2019 money and pays retirees, but the number of workers is shrinking while people live longer, and overhead is rising. <\/p>\n<p>The piece then discusses a conversation with Senator Patty Murray and the Congressional Budget Office, where the idea of payroll taxes is examined. The effective payroll tax rate is about 12.4% for people earning under roughly $184,000-$185,000, because the statutory 6.2% employee tax is largely borne by the employee and the employer\u2019s portion is effectively passed through. However, once earnings exceed the cap, no additional Social Security tax is charged, which means the overall rate on high incomes is much lower-illustratively, a millionaire might face about 2.2% in total, and a billionaire could see an extremely tiny rate (on the order of 0.002% in the description used).<\/p>\n<p>The article argues that Social Security is more accurately described as an entitlement than a savings account. Benefits are capped (for example, the top monthly benefit is around $5,181 in 2026), and there are discussions about further limiting benefits for high earners. Reform proposals-often pitched as fairness or alchemy to fix the program-are politically perilous because Social Security is the \u201cthird rail\u201d of American politics.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the piece contends that frank talks about Social Security as an entitlement, and about who pays for whom, might help steer policy away from dangerous delusion. But the political reality makes it hard to address, and rhetoric often obscures the true mechanics and stakes of the program<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2584004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Michael-Featured-Image-838.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[3685,5894,3740,69551],"class_list":["post-2584003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-democrats","tag-politics","tag-senate","tag-social-security-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Michael-Featured-Image-838.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2584003"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2584007,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2584003\/revisions\/2584007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2584004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2584003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2584003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2584003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}