Aid programs must improve, not end

By Ken Hamm Sr., Las Vegas

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Regarding the letter “GOP healed nation, Dems are distressing” (Las Vegas Sun, Oct. 6):

Another reason the GOP needs to go: Before Social Security, many people faced destitution in old age. The first payments were paid to 222,488 people in 1940.

Life expectancy in 1935, according to the Social Security website, was 58 for men and 62 for women. The majority of Americans who did live to 65 (almost 54 percent) could expect to collect Social Security benefits for almost 13 years (and the number was even higher for women).

The first national pension program for soldiers was America’s first Social Security program, passed in 1776, prior even to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Military pensions were an important source of economic security in the early years of this nation. In 1894 military pensions accounted for 37 percent of the entire federal budget. We had a Democrat for president. The nation survived and went on to grow.

The stock market will continue to have some advantages to those who have extra money to invest and want to take a risk. For the majority of people who live paycheck to paycheck (thanks to the greedy 1 percent), this a luxury they cannot afford to take. How many people close to retirement age lost all their investment because the stock market took a deep dive in 2008? If you were a young person, you may have had the opportunity to start over. If you were retired and lost your investment, your life may have taken a tragic turn, and I am sure some did not recover. Those who depended on Social Security survived much better.

As far as insurance programs are concerned, Medicare has proved to be a tremendous asset to millions, as has the Affordable Care Act.

Instead of eliminating these programs, we need to improve them, so no one gets left behind.

There have always been people who have had the courage to stand up for those who will not or cannot stand up for themselves.

If your interpretation of a Democrat is someone who is willing to hold out his hand to help someone in need, then I am very proud to call myself a Democrat.