By Anita Nath
“Social Security? Retirement? Health Care? As a twenty-three year old, why should I care? I don’t have to think about these issues for at least another thirty years and besides, it is going to run out anyway, right?”
Wrong. Unfortunately, if I took a poll, this would be the response of a large portion of my peers today. Young people know that money is deducted from our paychecks every week, but many of us do not know why, what it is used for, or how the system works. Members of my generation have the mentality of “Oh just let the baby boomers take care of it.”
This just won’t do. I care about these issues, because maintaining these benefits may mean the difference between poverty and a life of retirement security for my generation. Yes, we are young now, but we are equal stakeholders in this system. The time has come for my generation to exercise our power, and harness our knowledge to establish what we have at stake. I for one would not like to work until I am 70 years old (which is a strong possibility if you ask the Federal bi-partisan deficit committee)!
My generation is known as the millennials, defined as those born between 1983 and 1998. According to research conducted by the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan fact tank, millennials are “More ethnically and racially diverse than older generations.
They’re confident, connected, open to change, and are on track to become the most
educated generation in American history.”
With these credentials, our generation brought to power the first African American president (with twenty-four million votes by those under 30) as we were reaching for a solution to the largest economic crisis in years, and searching to find a solution in the Middle East. We know we have power, now we must energize it to save a system that has been in place since 1935.
Taking on this challenge, millennials have to first educate ourselves on what is at stake – our future. Young people must learn that Social Security, also known as Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI), assists not only the retired and elderly, but those who lose a loved one or those who become disabled, as well.
Social Security is one of areas of public funds targeted to be cut ostensibly in attempts lower the country’s ever-growing deficit. Unfortunately, talk of insolvency of Social Security by 2042 or before, diminishes our desire to act, especially when the oldest members of our millennial generation will not even qualify for benefits by then!
Knowing what we stand to lose inspires us to action. Young people can play an important role in the movement to defend and extend social security by learning about the benefits of the system, realizing we are stakeholders, and flexing our often tech savvy power. A simple Twitter message or Facebook post can inspire a whole round of “comments.” An e-mail or text has the power to stop and allow one to become informed and continue communication about the issue. Just take a look at how social media and the technology-minded youth impacted the recent happenings in Egypt, Libya, and Wisconsin.
When lawmakers witness young people joining and advocating with the retired community and others in the voting booths and in the streets, positive change is inevitable. Millennials will then show lawmakers that this generation will not sit idly by while reform decisions of today destroy our country’s largest “Trust Fund” for us tomorrow.
Let’s face it, those in Congress now will not be around to feel the impact of their decisions, but we sure will. We must have a hand on the pen that writes these changes, because the bottom line is that this is our future, and we do have something to say, or “tweet”, about it!
Anita Nath is a student at the University of Washington and a member of PSARA.
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