THE GRAND INQUISTOR'S DAY DRAWS NEAR!

Charles Goyette:

But even beyond the realization that some American are beginning to have that the retirement money they sent to Washington for a lifetime is not there, that the money has been spent, that they have been lied to, even beyond that shocking reality, no one has yet adequately calculated the negative impact Social Security has had on the behavior of the American people. Perhaps unquantifiable is the impact this deceit has had on Americans' motivation to save for themselves. In the absence of the politicians’ sweet assurances, what present consumption might have been deferred and what mountains of capital might Americans have created in providing for the future for themselves? Unanswerable is what magic such massive capital investment might have created in terms of long-term wealth, prosperity, and opportunity for Americans and for humankind. Such rewards are unknown, but what one can be sure of is that those who have not provided for their future, for old age, for sickness and death, for economic displacements, natural catastrophes, and cultural change are liable, even eager to become serfs of an all-powerful state. As Dostoyevsky's Grand Inquisitor said, “In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us: 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.' ”