Thursday, August 12, 2010

When was Social Security invented?

How many people know that Social Security was invented by that oft-quoted founding father Thomas Paine? Yep, the very same Thomas Paine who is used by the Teapartiers to justify their conservative small government rhetoric. In fact Thomas Paine strongly supported socialistic ideals. Specifically in his pamphlet Agrarian Justice he advocated giving every citizen a significant sum of money as soon as they reach the age of 21. This is to compensate them for the loss of their natural heritage, taken by capitalist society. He also advocated that every person reaching the age of 50 should receive an annual pension. How is this to be paid? Guess who also invented the estate tax?

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