DOGE Is The Newest GOP Weapon To Attack And Kill Social Security

Cartoon is by Ed Wexler at Cagle.com.

Perhaps you, like me, have been confused about the crazy cuts Elon Musk and his DOGE minions have been doing. They claim they are just trying to cut waste and fraud out of government. But the way they are going about it doesn't make it seem that way. 

For instance, cutting jobs from agencies without regard to what an employee does or how well they do that job doesn't cut any waste and/or fraud. It just makes an agency's harder to do. And even if their vastly inflated cost-cutting was true (it's not) they haven't been cutting enough out of the budget to pay for even half of the huge tax cuts they are planning for the rich (and super-rich). It just doesn't make sense.

Until now.

They have finally arrived at their real target - Social Security. 

Republicans have never liked Social Security. They voted against it when it was passed in 1935, and they have been trying to get rid of it in the 90 years since then.

But the problem is that Social Security is one of the most successful programs created by the government. It has reduced poverty among seniors from nearly 40% to only about 10% (and provides at least a subsistence level of income to that remaining 10%). It provides an income for disabled people who cannot work. And it provides survivor benefits for families. It is critical for millions of Americans, and it has never added a penny to the national debt. Justifiably, it is a very popular programs with Americans.

Because of its popularity, Republicans have never been able to abolish the program - but they keep trying. President Bush (the second) wanted to privatize Social Security (putting seniors at risk by putting their money in the stack market). There was a huge blowback, and that was not done.

Recently, the Republicans have bee chipping away at Social Security (raising retirement age, trying to lower the cost-of-living adjustment, etc.) - hoping to damage it and make it unpopular enough to finally abolish it. They have also been trying to convince Americans that the budget cannot be balanced and national debt lowered without Social Security cuts (even though Social Security doesn't affect the budget or national debt since it is paid for through the Social Security Trust Fund).

DOGE is just the their newest weapon to attack Social Security. It gives the GOP some cover by letting DOGE do the dirty work, and letting DOGE attack a variety of agencies. But only Social Security (and to a lesser extent Medicare and Medicaid) has the huge budget that Republicans want to get their hands on.

DOGE can't actually abolish Social Security. But it can seriously damage the programs - to the extent that the agency won't be able to deliver the checks on time, won't be able to help recipients make needed changes, and won't be able to effective register new retirees and others. And once the agency can no longer function effective, the congressional Republicans will step in to "save" it. They will do that by substantially cutting benefits, or privatizing the program. Probably the latter, because that will benefit moguls on Wall Street.

Make no mistake - this is what the whole thing is about. It is the latest effort by Republicans to get rid of Social Security (and Medicare and Medicaid). By robbing these funds, they will have the money for huge giveaways to the rich (and especially the super-rich oligarchs).

 They have always been the party of and for the rich. They really don't care about the needs of the poor, the working class, or the middle class. This attack on Social Security proves that.