Paul Sassone

It’s really an 11-letter word.

But, to Republicans it’s a four-letter word.

And, as the election draws closer, you are going to hear it a lot.

The word? Entitlement.

An entitlement is the condition of having a right to have, do or get something.

To Republicans, an entitlement is the condition of having a right to have, do or get something you don’t deserve.

The biggest of these entitlements is Social Security. More than 60 million Americans receive Social Security benefits totaling $74 billion a month. Social Security keeps 20 percent of all Americans ages 65 and older above the federally defined poverty level.

So, naturally, Republicans have been trying to kill Social Security since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed it into law in 1935.

They’re still at it. Mitt Romney ran for president last election under a platform to greatly reduce all entitlement programs and to privatize Social Security.

The GOP still wants to privatize Social Security, reduce annual cost-of-living allowances and increase the age for collection of full benefits.

Yes, I know that Donald Trump promises to leave Social Security as it is.

But who can trust him? He tailors his principles to fit the audience he is addressing.

When he wasn’t running for president, back in 2000, in his book “The America We Deserve,” he called Social Security a “huge Ponzi scheme,” endorsed raising the age for full benefits to 70, and wrote that “privatization would be good for us all.”

Which is the real Donald Trump?

By contrast, 110 House Democrats out of 188 recently endorsed a resolution to “protect and expand Social Security.”  Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders vow to do the same.

So, I am constantly amazed that so many gray-haired Americans back Trump and vote Republican.

Maybe they believe GOP scare tactics that Social Security is going broke.

And, yes, there are problems. But there also are solutions that don’t include destroying Social Security.

For example, lift the Social Security payroll tax ceiling, which now is at $118,500 to make the wealthy pay a fair share. Or, raise Social Security taxes from 6.2 percent to 7.6 percent. This solution is favored by 60 percent of Americans.

I don’t have the answer. But answers there are. What it will take are leaders to really want to solve a problem, not just implement right-wing ideological orthodoxy.

But, hey, this is America. Vote how you think best.

–Entitlement is 4-letter word to GOP–