Keep Social Security the way it is

Like millions of Americans who retire, my father, who was a pastor, depended on his Social Security checks and Medicaid to supplement his pension until he and my mother passed away. If, however, during the Bush presidency Congress had privatized and invested my father and mother's Social Security and Medicare money in the stock market, they would have lost everything when the stock market plummeted on Bush's watch. Now Republicans are promising to privatize these programs if they regain power.

With no Social Security or job, my father would be considered a "99er" that Republican/tea party candidates and TV hosts like to rail about. The truth is, there are millions of good, honest, hardworking American "99ers" who by no fault of their own were victims of this recession.

Had my father been alive today, I know he would have been grateful to the Democrats for creating Social Security and Medicare and that the Democratic leadership had the compassion to pass the extension of the unemployment insurance, as it is keeping food on the table for 10 million Americans.

As my father would say, "There by the grace of God go I." This notion that anything "government" is bad, like Social Security and Medicare that 50 million Americans depend on, or that persons needing "unemployment insurance" are all selfish, lazy hobos is out of touch. So why risk voting for GOP candidates who plan to again deregulate our markets and give our Social Security and Medicaid savings to Wall Street to gamble away?

Christine Johanson Ross

Buffalo Grove