Social Security Trust Fund

There is no Social Security Trust Fund any more than there is a tooth fairy. The fund exists only as a bookkeeping device. I repeat: The Social Security Trust Fund, on which scores of millions of Americans base their retirements, is nothing more than a bookkeeping device. […] If you went to Washington and demanded that your congressman walk you to the vault and show you this fund, he’d reach under his desk and hit the button to summon the guards. All that exists in the fund is a claim, an I.O.U. on the Treasury that will be honored only if future Congresses honor the obligation of the current and past Congresses.

The chains of tyrants

Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is impossible that a nation of infidels or idolaters should be a nation of freemen. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.

Government incompetence and corruption

[A] deep-rooted culture of incompetence and corruption has made it virtually impossible for government to function fairly and efficiently. And because most government employees are shielded by layers of protection, they couldn’t care less. […] ‘Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,’ Ronald Reagan reminded us during his inaugural address in 1981. Nothing’s changed since then, with one exception: It’s gotten far worse.