Staff Reports
Walk into any grocery store today and ask a senior how they’re getting by. You’ll hear the same story over and over — their Social Security check doesn’t stretch like it used to. The milk costs more, the bread costs more, the electricity costs more, and heaven help them if they need new glasses or a dental visit. These are the men and women who kept America running for decades, yet in their golden years, they are forced to live like second-class citizens in the very country they built.
This is not an accident. It’s the direct result of Washington’s warped priorities.
For decades, the political class has treated Social Security like a nuisance — a problem they’d rather not talk about except during election season. They throw out a few crumbs in the form of a so-called “cost-of-living adjustment” that’s eaten alive by inflation before the ink is even dry. Meanwhile, they act as if the money simply isn’t there to do more.
But let’s be clear: the money is there. They just choose to spend it elsewhere.
Every year, this government sends tens of billions of dollars overseas in foreign aid — much of it to countries that spit in our face. According to the U.S. State Department’s own numbers, the United States sent over $50 billion in foreign aid in 2023 alone. That’s money taken from your paycheck and mine — money that could have gone toward increasing Social Security benefits, improving Medicare, or lowering prescription drug costs for our seniors.
And foreign aid is just the beginning. Washington wastes hundreds of billions more on bloated bureaucracies, ridiculous pet projects, and programs that make no sense to the average taxpayer. Millions go to “climate resilience” programs in other countries, studies on why shrimp run on treadmills, and university grants to “explore the impact of social media on fruit flies.” This is not parody — this is real spending you can find buried in the budget.
Then there’s the fortune spent on illegal immigration — food, housing, healthcare, legal representation, and even smartphones for people who broke our laws to get here. The Biden administration has allocated billions for this purpose, all while telling America’s seniors there’s just not enough in the budget to give them a meaningful raise.
The insult here is staggering. Our seniors aren’t asking for handouts — they paid for Social Security their entire working lives. It’s not charity. It’s not welfare. It’s a contract. Every paycheck they earned had a chunk taken out for Social Security, with the understanding that the government would safeguard it for their retirement.
But Washington broke that promise. They raided the Social Security trust fund to pay for other programs, replacing real money with IOUs. They’ve treated it like a piggy bank, dipping in whenever they needed cash for their latest scheme. And now, when seniors need the benefits they were promised, they’re told to “make do” with whatever scraps are left.
It’s time to turn the tables. Imagine if even half of the $50+ billion in foreign aid went to Social Security. Imagine if the billions wasted on absurd projects and corporate welfare were redirected to the very people who built the economy in the first place. We could not only raise benefits, we could make sure no senior in America has to choose between buying groceries or paying for medication.
Some in Washington will tell you “the program is going broke.” That’s another scare tactic. If politicians were serious about protecting Social Security, they’d start by cutting waste and prioritizing citizens over foreigners. The reality is, we have the money — we just lack leaders with the backbone to use it wisely.
The men and women who fought in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam… who endured the hardships of the Depression… who put men on the moon and built the greatest economy in history — they deserve more than broken promises. They deserve a government that keeps its word.
But that won’t happen until Americans demand it. Seniors should not be silent. Families should not be silent. Every voter should be asking their representatives why our tax dollars go to foreign capitals before they go to our own retirees. If they can find the money to rebuild Ukraine, they can find the money to rebuild the dignity of America’s seniors.
This is not a partisan issue. It’s a moral one. It’s about honoring the people who honored their commitments, who paid their dues, and who gave us the freedom and prosperity we enjoy today. Turning our backs on them is more than bad policy — it’s national shame.
Enough with the excuses. Enough with the crumbs. We must demand a government that puts America’s seniors first. Before another dime leaves this country, before another bloated agency gets a funding boost, we must take care of the men and women who built it.
They’ve earned it. They’ve paid for it. And they will not wait forever.
