This is the email I just sent to my Congressional representatives in Congress (I’m in New York’s 28th Congressional District so my Congresswoman is Louise Slaughter and my Senators are Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer). In it I ask them to oppose any deal which changes Social Security in any way whatsoever. I highly recommend that regardless of who represents you in Congress, you do the same. If you want to use any part of my message as a template for yours, please feel free (obviously if you are represented by any Republicans this email won’t be of much help to you, but you should contact them anyway to state your opposition to any changes in Social Security).
Dear ____________________,
Please oppose any changes to Social Security regardless of who proposes them, the Republicans or the President. Please, speak out and say it loud and clear that you oppose changes to Social Security or any other part of the social safety net. Issue press releases stating that you fundamentally oppose any changes to social security.
I didn’t vote for you and President Obama to see him agree to change social security in any way, and I am depending on you to have my back on this. Know that I, and millions of others around the country, will have your back if you stand up for us now.
If social security is changed as part of any “grand bargain” under a Democratic President’s watch, do you know who people will blame? The Democrats. I can see the campaign ads right now that Republicans will run against every Democratic candidate for Congress in 2014, even those who do not vote for the proposed changes. I imagine you can too.
Vice President Biden promised on the campaign trail that Social Security would not be changed under the Obama administration.
Source: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/14/13282109-biden-guarantees-there-will-be-no-changes-in-social-security#.UCrOK4BZxtA.twitter
Tell him and the President to stand by their guarantee to Americans such as me. I voted for you and Barack Obama based on that guarantee. Now is not the time for the Democrats to become the party that starts the destruction of Social Security. If a deal is made this time, more “deals” will be expected next time, and more cuts to Social Security and Medicare will be expected.
And if a Republican President is elected again, he or she will be able to point to what a Democrat in the Oval Office did as “precedent” for any future changes to the social safety net. If President Obama makes this deal, and any Congressional Democrats vote for it, the Democratic Party will suffer major damage for a generation or more. I may never see a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives again in my lifetime. And it will be much more difficult for Democrats to capture the White House because no one will believe future Democratic candidates when they promise not to mess with Social Security, Medicare, etc. Fewer people will turn out to vote for Democrats. You know this to be true.
Please tell President Obama to stop playing with matches when it comes to my “guaranteed” social security insurance benefits (I personally become eligible in nine years – assuming the retirement age is not changed – and I will need every penny), as well as other benefits for which millions of Americans have paid FICA taxes. Don’t make this deal. You and every Democratic politician will regret it for the rest of your political careers if you do. Stand up for those of us who stood up and voted you into office on the guarantee that social security would not be changed. We are depending on you to stand by us, your constituents.
Thank you for your consideration,
Steven D. ______
