Obama's New Front On The War Against Children

Dear Mr. President,
Unlike perceived wisdom that excuses your cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other social programs as yet another attempt to “demonstrate his willingness to compromise with Republicans” (NYT “Social Programs Facing a Cutback In Obama Budget”, April 5), I believe this latest betrayal of the American people stems from your core beliefs. Social Security is a pay-as-you-go program, funded through separate payroll taxes, not through the general fund; it has nothing to do with the budget deficit and you know it. Moreover, in an article in Thursday’s Times, (“Misperceptions of Benefits Make Trimming Harder”), a graph shows that the average person today will pay more into Social Security than he or she will get out of it. So why does this off-the-budget program that does not contribute to the deficit need fixing? It doesn’t. And who gets hurt the most through austerity and Grand Bargain Deficit Reduction budgets? The old, the young, the poor, the disabled, the powerless. Your embrace of the Republicans’ chained CPI won’t have much effect on current benefits but will have a tremendous impact on future benefits and it’s one more front in the insidious and relentless war on our children. War comes home in many ways, most of them unnoticed and not perceived as directly linked to war but they are, nevertheless. The ripple effects spread and keep spreading for generations and no one pays attention. The politicians trumpet the necessity and justness of wars but there is no necessity or honor or justness in war. Warmongers spread fear and demonize perceived enemies when the enemies are of our own making. If you spent as much time promoting peace as you do on war—your Kill Lists and targeted assassinations—we might actually make progress toward peace. But following the war path is much easier and more popular than following the path of peace and war is where the money is, where power lies and you’ve learned to play the game and you’re not giving up the heady rush of power for the drudgery and difficulty of peace, let alone buck the 1%, who you know will turn on you in a heartbeat if you abandon them for what’s right. And so, you continue to chip away at democracy and justice and rattle those sabers and rockets and drones but what of the children you betray, Mr. President? Does that ever bother you? Does it ever occur to you that the wars you wage are wars against children? Does it ever occur to you that the wars against children may include your own?