Professor Sundiata Cha-Jua, a prominent history and African-American studies professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is under fire after using racist slurs to describe Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker. While the racist attack has drawn criticism on conservative sites, there has been no opposing statement or protest at the university. The media has also been largely quiet. The contrast to past controversies involving conservative faculty members again raises the concern over a double standard applied by colleges and universities as well as the media. Thus far, the response to the use of racist slurs or tropes against Republicans has been the familiar sound of crickets.Cha-Jua wrote in The News-Gazette Walker is “incompetent, subliterate and coonish.”
Recently, Walker was subjected to a racist attack on MSNBC by regular guest (and writer for Above the Law and the Nation) Elie Mystal. MSNBC never apologized to Walker or affirmed its opposition to such racist commentary.
The column was an attack on Black Republicans who Cha-Jua refers to as “MAGA Black White supremacists.”The column seems to follow a pattern among Democratic politicians in attacking Black and Hispanic voters who are shifting over to the GOP. President Biden was ridiculed for declaring “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
In his highly offensive column, Chu-Jua compares a Black Republican candidate Terence Stuber to a slave serving white masters: “And like the incompetent, subliterate and coonish Herschel Walker, Stuber reiterates ‘massa’ Trump’s talking points.” Stuber is running for Champaign County Clerk.
The lack of any protest or statement at the university is another example of how such controversies are handled when they involve faculty on the left as opposed to right. There are relatively few conservative or Republican faculty at most universities today, but the response to any such controversial statements is often immediate and overwhelming.
I have defended faculty who have made similarly disturbing comments “detonating white people,” abolish white people, denouncing police, calling for Republicans to suffer, strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservative protesters and other outrageous statements. I also defended the free speech rights of University of Rhode Island professor Erik Loomis, who defended the murder of a conservative protester and said that he saw “nothing wrong” with such acts of violence. (Loomis was later made Director of Graduate Studies of History at Rhode Island).
Even when faculty engage in hateful acts on campus, however, there is a notable difference in how universities respond depending on the viewpoint. At the University of California campus, professors actually rallied around a professor who physically assaulted pro-life advocates and tore down their display.
When these controversies arose, faculty rallied behind the free speech rights of the professors. That support was far more muted or absent when conservative faculty have found themselves at the center of controversies. The recent suspension of Ilya Shapiro is a good example. Other faculty have had to go to court to defend their free speech rights. One professor was suspended for being seen at a controversial protest.
I would defend Cha-Jua’s right to speak despite his offensive rhetoric in any effort to fire him. Yet, such language should be condemned. A professor used openly racist slurs to attack African Americans running for office and the silence from the university and the faculty at Illinois is perfectly deafening. The contrast in these cases is glaring and chilling. The professors and pundits who have written hair-triggered columns or tweets are notably silent when the racist attack is directed against Black Republicans or conservatives.
The response explains the sense of fear and intimidation for some faculty in speaking out on campuses. There is a general view that a conservative or dissenting faculty member will be given little quarter or protection in any controversy. Given the relatively small number of openly conservative or Republican professors left on many faculties, the chilling effect is perfectly glacial.
So just do what antifa does to people they deem “racist”
Ok Senator Warnock does what Joe Biden a white man tells him like 98% of the time so using Sundiata’s logic… wait that’s no logic at all its more like a racial dog whistle that Joe Biden used remember “You ain’t black if you don’t vote for me!” I tell you folks you can’t make this crap up, so if Walker didn’t vote for Biden then he isn’t black and can’t be all those derogatory expletives that Sunidata claims!
My heartfelt thanks to Elie Mystal and MSNBC for having contributed so much to ensure that the Red Tsunami becomes a reality.
I think this professor is guilty of everything he’s accusing Walker of, namely that a racist white establishment threatened by Walker can’t say what they really think about him so they use a Black surrogate to say it.
We couldn’t have done it without them
When I see imbecile like this along with people like Joy Reid, it reminds me of the movies about chain gangs. There is always a few prisoners that are also in jail but they are there to keep the other prisoners in line and they get special privileges. If a prisoner steps out of line they can shoot them. Say no more
(LOVE your clever sign-in name.)
Has this guy ever seen Maxine Waters?
If somebody tried to put on a TV show with a character who simply carbon-copied Mad Max’s exact words it would be denounced as racist and there would be boycotts of the sponsors.
Yes! And the black howdy doody freak from Florida, and the black fool on the floating island of Guam! The white demmasters took the dumbest of the race to plug into congress as black lap dogs. They knew all it took was a black face to have every black voting for someone that looks like them. Thank god there’s just as many conservative blacks as whites and they’re FINALLY waking up.
His disparaging comments caused more fence straddlers in the Georgia race to vote for Herschel.🤠💥👊
Wait, what, Georgia? Coonass?
H. Walker’s not in Louisiana?
Oh man…
Holy moly they stepped in it. Herschel is revered in Georgia, not just as a football hero but a man who opened successful businesses. That kind of tirade will push Georgia blacks to shed the democrat chains for sure!
I have no problem with him teaching students. After all, somebody’s gotta clean up the puke and wipe the old people’s bottoms.
He’s just another Democrat another regular stereotypical run of the mill Democrat we’ve all learned to tune these people out by now at least most of us have
They say consider the source.
The professor is a proud supporter of the greatest monument. memorial, and symbol of slavery, racism, segregation, lynch mobs, and militant hoodlums like the KKK which is the Democratic party. The Democratic party continues to demonstrate that Black lives don’t matter.
Herschel Walker is the Patriot!
It’s so reversing to know that the Democrat-Fascist Party is STILL the home of the Ku Klux Klan!
I wish Herschel Walker was an Iowa citizen so I could vote for him. He speaks from his heart and not out of his axx like the Media.
“Prominent”?? Compared to WHO??
Leftists are simply horrible people.
They are SICK FASCISTS. Their rhetoric proves it everyday!
It seems like much of the racism is coming from black elites. Cha-Jua is just the latest in a long line of minority racists, including those “luminaries” on CNN and MSNBC like Joy Reid, Tiffany Cross, Whoopi Goldberg, Elie Mystal and Sunny Hostin. MSNBC, whose standards are lower than my shoe size, recently fired Cross for her objectionable speech, but it took much longer than it should have, and she may have been just the sacrificial lamb that will allow the network to seem reasonable while still running race-baiters and race-haters. How do we know that everything the left says about “speech is violence” and “we need safe spaces from white supremacists” is bunko? Because they break their own rules 24/7 and never seem triggered to hear the hate coming from one of their own. Bottom line: it’s all about power, and that’s the ground we have to fight them on. Not word dueling or verbal critiques, but political power with no guilt attached.
The insanity of the Left finally has dragged Bill Maher away from Progressivism, and now seems to be dragging Turley kicking and screaming away from his own biases.
First, shadows are the reflection of our existence in the space. Then, our shadows overlap, intertwine, communicate. In this project, shadows are turned into subjective via https://ladydahmer.com/ representations of our mind states. Instead of being distorted by the source of light, the audience will be able to control their own shadows by wearing the headsets that collect EEG data from them and accordingly form fake shadows projected onto the ground beside them.
With no outcry from the faculty. Say it ain’t so.
For the love all things good, gentleman. Love one another. The world is difficult and complicated and painful as it is without adding to its and one another’s burdens.
Could they try to say, ‘he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother’?
🙁
Powerful essay from a liberal woman shocked – and angered – by the transformation in Democratic politics. And by the horrific costs brought about by three years of Covid totalitarian censorship. Worth a read:
https://emilyburns.substack.com/p/with-whom-does-emily-oster-want-an
The horrific costs of lockdowns, intolerance, and censorship are bringing about new coalitions and the end of progressive cultural/political hegemony. Here’s one excerpt from the article:
“But despite being pro-choice, I have become a single issue voter. My vote this cycle is a vote for vengeance against the party that kept my kids masked for two years; that robbed me of my best friends, and strained every relationship I have; that caused us to move to an entirely different part of the country; that perverted a discipline that I love, and which I use to navigate my life (science); and that then lied about doing it, and called me a terrorist for being upset about it. After this cycle, my vote will always be for the party that represents the most decentralized power structure, and the greatest respect for individual rights and responsibility. For me, the new f-word is ‘federal’.”
Today’s #1 on the EDKH reading list :-).
https://emilyburns.substack.com/p/with-whom-does-emily-oster-want-an
The whole idea for lockdowns was cribbed from some 14-year-old girl’s science fair project.
https://www.abqjournal.com/1450579/social-distancing-born-in-abq-teens-science-project.html
Everything was her fault!
Thanks for that link, Emily does indeed burn. As she should.
The Marxist attacks by the Left are no longer working, even in New Hampshire.
Democrat Senator Maggie Hassan is a career politician in NH who is now rejected by the residents because they have had enough of her elitist obfuscation and condescension. Recall too that General Don Boldoc was attacked by a Leftist who had been asked to leave by the college sponsoring the event beforehand. He is now charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. This after Biden’s divisive speech on “saving Democracy”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/an-new-hampshire-maggie-hassan-don-bolduc-election-midterms-nomination-gop-political-analysis-11667507255
Don Bolduc May Pull Off an Upset in New Hampshire
Most obviously, Mr. Bolduc is more aligned with a majority of New Hampshire voters on the issues. He supports cutting federal spending and taxes, increasing domestic energy production, controlling the border, protecting Second Amendment rights and limiting foreign military engagements. He talks about inflation and energy prices constantly. Reluctant to draw attention to her voting record, Ms. Hassan relentlessly attacks Mr. Bolduc on abortion and Social Security. Whenever she mentions the Democratic Party, it’s to say that she stood up to it on some small, forgotten bill.
Beyond policy, there’s culture, and here Mr. Bolduc has another advantage. He has an everyman appeal that Ms. Hassan lacks. He’s no conventional politician. Asked a question, he gives a plain and direct answer. From his regulation Army haircut to his sensible shoes, he maintains an image that many in a rural state find familiar. Nothing about him seems the slightest bit calculated.
He’s taken this show on the road, to great effect. Since losing a bid for the Republican nomination against Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in 2020, he’s traveled the state in a continuous conversation with voters. He’s held dozens of town-hall meetings during this campaign, where he not only talks, he listens. At baseball games, fall fairs and town gatherings, it’s not uncommon to see Mr. Bolduc chatting amiably with strangers and letting kids pet his dog.
Ms. Hassan, by contrast, has a public persona that screams “political establishment.” She doesn’t release her public schedule, hasn’t had an open press conference in years, and studiously avoids engaging with anyone who isn’t screened by her staff. She had agreed to a debate hosted by the Nashua Chamber of Commerce, then said she would attend only if she and Mr. Bolduc weren’t on stage together.
New Hampshire is a quirky state that doesn’t mind sending unconventional outsiders to Washington. Mr. Bolduc is an outsider’s outsider. If he pulls this off, it will be an upset for the ages, due in part to his opponent’s impressive effort to maintain a protective buffer between herself and those she represents.
Hassan’s campaign outspent Bolduc by about 10 to 1. All that money certainly didn’t come from New Hampshire. Plus it was enough to fund nearly continuous, saturation advertising on television stations throughout New England. Many are saying that the more they see of Maggie Hassan, the more they are turning to Don Bolduc.
The hell of it is, you could make a good case against Walker on the merits. He _is_ inexperienced and probably will be, at least for a while, a reliable go-along vote. (Could be wrong about that latter thing, I guess.) He really _doesn’t_ have any particular qualifications that would indicate he was the right nominee for Republicans. A lot of people are getting understandably tired of the “was a celebrity, therefore should be legislator or president” rationale.
But the problem is when people like this (the recent bit by Elie Mystal comes to mind as well, which you also covered) polish their own race-is-the-ground-of-everything brands by racializing what could’ve been a rational critique, so that Walker’s fitness really isn’t the point at all, just their status within the universities or MSNBC-et-al talkosphere. It’s all about staying on-brand and pumping the edgy-radical creds. And it just perpetutates this demented racism that has taken hold of a sick culture.
Please name a democrat who is qualified ?
Well, there’s and there’s and there’s. just too many to come to mind.
Many of us would questions your qualms about Herschel Walker’s qualifications. Below is is an excerpt from Walker’s campaign website. Quite impressive for a man that a cossetted, progressive university progressive calls “incompetent, subliterate and coonish.” Really, who’s the ignorant one?
“Walker’s unmatched work ethic extends far beyond athletics. He is also the successful owner and CEO of two businesses in the food and service industry, H. Walker Enterprises, LLC and Renaissance Man Food Services, LLC. In true Herschel fashion, his brands have become successful food service lines to major hotel chains, the United States military, schools, concessions, and retail chains.”
What “qualifications” are looking for? A career establishment politician? No thanks. I am okay with everyone learning on the job in DC, if thats what it takes to get fresh faces who know what its like to live under sh$%^ty policies.
Senator Murray says that Republicans want gut Social Security an Medicare. This is what she got from the Washington Post.
Four Pinocchios
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/27/false-claim-that-senate-republicans-plan-end-social-security-medicare/. Are you scared enough to vote for a Democrat now?
Social Security and Medicare must be retroactively struck down by the Supreme Court using its power of Judicial Review.
The Supreme Court recently acted retroactively by 50 years to strike down wholly unconstitutional Roe v. Wade and return the legality of abortion to the States, per the Constitution.
Congress has the power to tax ONLY for debt, defense, and infrastructure (i.e. general Welfare – ALL or the WHOLE, WELL PROCEED).
Congress has NO power to tax for individual welfare, specific welfare, particular welfare, favor or charity.
Congress has NO enumerated power to regulate or tax for Social Security and Medicare.
The free enterprise free markets in America are eminently capable of creating and maintaining effective retirement and healthcare insurance plans for all self-reliant citizens who freely choose to participate.
This week, The New York Times looked at what the GOP might actually do on Social Security if they do indeed regain Congress next year.
Republicans, the Times said, “have embraced plans to reduce federal spending on Social Security and Medicare, including cutting benefits for some retirees and raising the retirement age for both safety net programs.”
The argument, per the piece, is that cuts are necessary to reign in spending.
The story specifically referenced Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who has said more than once that he would like to subject Social Security to reauthorization on an annual basis, rather than funded by a formula, as it currently is.
This plan was assailed by former President Barack Obama during a recent campaign visit to Wisconsin.
Obama said that recipients “had long hours and sore backs and bad knees to get that Social Security,” and that “if Ron Johnson does not understand that — if he understands giving tax breaks for private planes more than he understands making sure that seniors who have worked all their lives are able to retire with dignity and respect — he’s not the person who’s thinking about you and knows you and sees you, and he should not be your senator from Wisconsin.”
In addition, per the Times, “several conservative Republicans vying to lead key economic committees in the House have suggested publicly that they would back efforts to change eligibility for the safety net programs.”
So, your Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps are definitely at risk if you vote Republican.
Gigi – The young people who pay for Medicare and Social Security also have “long hours and sore backs and bad knees” and they will get back a small part of what they pay into the system. It is time we started to think about them.
Start a charity; work for a charity.
You’re free.
Congress has no power to tax for Social Security and/or Medicare.
We’re free…of redistributive taxation and every other principle of communism.
“It’s the [fundamental law], stupid!”
– James Carville
_____________
Just wait until the Supreme Court realizes it has the power of Judicial Review.
It isn’t democrat or republican; it’s the Constitution.
There is no option for communism.
NYT is obviously WRONG. Even by their own admission.
There have been no consequential plans republicans have made regarding Social security.
That said – this country has a problem. Medicare is bankrupt. Social security will be soon.
We spend far too much.
Our current inflation problems will return unless government spending is cut.
Social security si not likely where either party will start – but ultimately it will have to happen.
The current inflation and the recession that is the results of efforts to fix it, are a problem that will return unless we take control of spending.
We are near certain close to the revenue optimizing tax rates. That shoudl be self evident because republican tax cuts and democratic tax increases have had no consequential effect on government revenues.
Put simply – there is no more tax revenue to be had. You can raise taxes and shrink growth.
But you can not get more income.
We must confront spending.
Now would be good. Several decades ago would have been better.
Tomorow will be worse.
We can kick the can down the road and wait for the problem to be worse and our options to be worse.
Which is likely what will happen.
Or we can deal with it now.
Republicans are NOT publicly saying that.
But it is true.
“There have been no consequential plans republicans have made regarding Social security.”
Nope,
“Sen. Johnson suggests ending Medicare, Social Security as mandatory spending programs”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/03/ron-johnson-medicare-social-security/
Senator Rick Scott proposed legislation similar to what Johnson was proposing. It was voted down in congress. Obviously they did have and will do have more.
Medicare is not bankrupt. Social Security can be made solvent by increasing taxes and cutting spending.
Republicans won’t confront spending on where it really needs to be focused on. Pork and defense are options. So are increasing taxes including corporate taxes or how about letting government negotiate prices for prescription drugs. There are a lot of options before considering cuts in Medicare and Social security which is what republicans want the most.
Republicans won’t confront spending on where it really needs to be focused on. Pork and defense are options.
Pork is a problem, a bi-partisan problem. Of all the rest of the spending….Defense is an actual enumerated power of the federal govt. How about we eliminate federal spending on everything outside of the federal govt power.
Biden is currently spendint tens of Billions on Ukraine.
Does Svelaz want to cut that ?
I am fully prepared to discuss all kinds of spending cuts – as well as pork reductions.
I am prepared to cut defense – and I actually think we should.
But as we discuss cutting defense we should also grasp what that involves.
Defense cuts increase the likelyhood of wars involving the US throughout the world,
and increase the number of US soldiers who will die if we have a conflict.
I still support cutting defense – but we should not be blind to what that means.
“Medicare is not bankrupt. Social Security can be made solvent by increasing taxes and cutting spending.”
Part A reserves are dwindling.
Part B is paid directly by the taxpayer.
Our debt is huge with tremendous interest payments required
Likely interest rates will climb. If the interest rates double, just the cost of interest could exceed Medicare costs.
I won’t throw more problems onto this, but add Biden’s college forgiveness loans and you will be pitting healthcare costs agains loan repayment for basketweaving.
Look at the budget in order of costs. I think these are in order. Things have changed and continue to change.
Healthcare dwarfs defense
Education makes defense look puny
Pensions SS is much smaller than the above two but is about 50% bigger than defense.
Defense
Welfare
Etc.Etc.
Pork is puny.
Interest on the debt is growing rapidly and must be paid. Potentially it could get much higher than welfare costs.
As a leftist do you like throwing people off of welfare, social security, or Medicare to pay off interest on the national debt?
All of defense couldn’t pay for any one of the top three.
Who pays taxes? If we took all of the richest Americans wealth and gave it to the federal government, it couldn’t run the government for a year. Once the wealth is gone, you killed the golden goose. To raise the taxes we need, the money has to come from working people. You have bankrupted families and don’t even know it.
Trump improved the economy’s growth. Without that Biden couldn’t have done very much and we would be in a deeper hole today. Years ago the Concord Coalition had a worksheet where the individual could add and subtract from all the different spending programs. It was tough when Paul Tsongas was alive, now doing that might be near impossible. Today they probably aren’t looking at balancing the budget, rather they are probably looking at ’survival’.
John, I ran this off real fast and didn’t bother checking my work, and looking up what it is now so please correct if you wish. I was trying to provide the most general idea. It will fly over Svelaz’s head.
You can not get more from taxes.
Christine Romer’s work – Obama’s Cheif Economic advisor, found that income tax rates above about 35% produce LESS revenue.
Based on OECD data over the past 50 years.
How significant pork is depends on how you define Park.
The cost of studying things like the effect of butterfly flutters on global warming is small.
But as an example the entire Department of Education serves no purpose – and that is not cheap.
““There have been no consequential plans republicans have made regarding Social security.”
Nope,”
Incorrect.
““Sen. Johnson suggests ending Medicare, Social Security as mandatory spending programs””
Not what he said.
Nor is a suggestion a plan.
Nor does Johnson speak for the Entire GOP.
“Senator Rick Scott proposed legislation similar to what Johnson was proposing. It was voted down in congress.”
You seem to beleive that any mention of social security by Republicans is a threat to social security.
The FACT is Republicans have not “threatened” social security.
But it is near certain that if SS does not come up in the next congress – it will soon.
It is in trouble. Doing noting is a THREAT to social security – so those like YOU who are mis-characterizing “suggestions” but 2 republicans as threats are LYING. SS is or will become insolvent soon. We are going to have to do something about it.
“Obviously they did”
Did what ? Talked about SS – sure.
Started the process of addressing the fact that SS is or soon will be insolvent ?
Sure.
“Medicare is not bankrupt.”
It has been for some time.
” Social Security can be made solvent by increasing taxes and cutting spending.”
And Scott and Johnson are starting the process of discussing dealing with SS.
“Republicans won’t confront spending on where it really needs to be focused on.”
Absolutely True. Republicans are absymal at cutting spending.
But democrats are worse. Just look at the past 22 months – 5T in new spending AND a 500B student loan bailout.
Part of that caused the current inflation.
But worse the most recent Student loans forgiveness and the Ironically named inflation reduction act increase inflation.
“Pork and defense are options.”
Sure – lets see if anything happens.
The most I hope for is what Republicans did to Obama during his presidency and radically slowed the rate of spending increases
“So are increasing taxes including corporate taxes”
Nope – we are already at or very near the revenue optimizing tax rate – increasing taxes further will not bring in more revenue.
“how about letting government negotiate prices for prescription drugs.
It would be hard to think of a stupider thing to do.
That is called a price control – and one of the other things that nearly all economists right and left agree on is the price controls do not work.
They typically result in price increases and/or shortages.
“There are a lot of options before considering cuts in Medicare and Social security which is what republicans want the most.”
Neither Scott nor Johnson mentioned cuts to SS or Medicare. Nor do Republicans or democrats want to do that.
But both are likely inevitable – or the problem will get worse and the cuts will be worse.
john Say: And yet we somehow find billions to send to a corrupt Nazi regime in Ukraine.
This administration F#$Ked up SEVERAL ways that have resulted in Putin invading Ukraine.
Biden and the children running our government get the blame for that.
All that said once that occured – I am MOSTLY supportive of US support of Ukraine.
Though I am extremely angry that the US torpedoed a peace deal in April.
Defending Ukraine is expensive – but I support it.
But peace – even a bad peace must be the goal.
Continuing even the small risk of nuclear war is unacceptable.
Weaking Putin even Regime Change is an acceptable objective – But NOT at the risk we are taking.
Nor should the US objective be the recapture by Ukraine of all Russian occupied territory.
I grasp that Ukraine is not a perfect alie – that is normal – neither is Saudi Arabia.
We do not have to own the sins of the countries we support.
Regardless, the BEST outcome would have been not to F$%K this up in the first place.
Your Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and food stamps are definitely at risk – PERIOD
A reckoning is inevitable.
Nope
Yup – you admitted it in a prior post – though you pretended the problem was magically solvable.
Its not. Higher taxes will not bring in more money.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauser's_law
Gigi, so the NewYork Times looked at what might happen. The operative word being MIGHT. The boogie man will get you if you don’t watch out.
So Gigi, would you be alright with cutting social security benefits to more wealthy people? People are living longer and young people are having fewer children who will contribute to social security. Where will the money come from? Just some magical place?
Gigi: Maybe you missed Manchin’s recent call to overhaul social security. “Overhaul” usually means “cut” in DC lingo. Don’t put this on Republicans.
I wonder why the Washington Post fact checker disagrees.
Senator Mike Lee on tape saying he wants to “phase out Social Security, pull it up from the roots, get rid of it.”
video here: https://twitter.com/mmpadellan/status/1587997517639294976
Anonymous, here is what the social security administration has to say about its program. https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/solvency/. Democrats don’t want to touch the issue, they and you just want to ignore it. The Republicans want to take action to solve a problem but the Democrats just want to beat the Republicans over the head with a talking point. Reality bites.
As usual, you simply move the goalposts when you’re wrong, lying some more along the way.
Deal with the numbers. How are you going to save Medicare, Social Security while increasing spending and destroying the economy? You have no answers. The only thing you can talk about is the goalposts. All Democrats have been doing is working towards the demise of those two programs by spending money elsewhere.
You and your ilk are the problem.
Half-truth, he has a plan for how to replace it. Even Birdbrains Bush managed to blunder his way into the truth when he tried to get a word in edgewise regarding how to fund the system. The brute reality is the ability to pay the benefits rests ultimately on the PROFIT-PRODUCING private sector where the tax revenues come from. The financing should be tied to that. Bernie Blowhard seems to think it would be really cool to have a “zero profits” economy. The system as it stands is ghastly fraud, it’s the emptiest of promises codified by the “Unified Federal Budget Act” of 1972 I think. It was “bipartisan” with Nixon and the Democrats ganging up on the taxpayers. You ONLY GET A CHECK if there are enough people working and paying into the system at the time you get the government cuts the check. There is no actual fund behind the thing they mail you about how much you are promised. The majority of college graduates don not understand this and many are incapable as they never learned what the accounting definition of “equity” is. The Newspeak version is it’s another word for “Stickemup”.