Dealing With Reality – There Is No “Security” In Social “Security”, by Dennis Miller

As children, our elders programmed us with certain “core” beliefs. As adults, finding contrary evidence to those beliefs creates discomfort called “Cognitive Dissonance.” Psychology Today defines:

“Cognitive dissonance is a term for the state of discomfort felt when two or more modes of thought contradict each other. The clashing cognitions may include ideas, beliefs, or the knowledge that one has behaved in a certain way.”

My mother was a single parent long before it became commonplace. My grandmother was the predominant figure in my childhood development.

She was constantly praising President Roosevelt and Social Security. She explained, the government takes money out of your paycheck and “saves” it for you until you retire.

When I got my first real paycheck, the deduction for social security was more than income tax. I was shocked. She reassured me that I should be happy, the government was saving my money for me.

While she grumbled about taxes, she exempted social security, it was not a tax, it was the government saving YOUR money for YOU.

It took decades for me to realize FDR, like all politicians, lied. “Cognitive dissonance” was real. I was very uncomfortable letting go of a core belief and facing reality. Despite my grandmother’s beliefs, the government was not “saving” my money.