With every new Congress, you’re going to have a couple of weird ?members come out of the woodwork.
Consider newly sworn in Senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, whose campaign aired an ad about castrating pigs on a hog farm. Folksy, eh?
Or newly elected Majority Whip in the House of Representatives, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, who was discovered to have given speeches to anti-Semitic white supremacy groups.
One out-of-place ?member of Congress isn’t a newly elected leader or member, but rather an older one. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, recently gave a speech about Social Security reform.
It isn’t new information that Republicans have a passionate dislike of Social Security or other programs that help underprivileged, ?disabled or otherwise undeserving people.
So it wasn’t surprising to me that Sen. Paul’s vision for Social Security reform didn’t exactly line up with my view.
What is surprising, however, is how far off his synopsis is regarding what Social Security beneficiaries look like in terms of demographics.
In a speech in New Hampshire, Paul said of Social Security, “there’s always somebody who’s deserving, everybody in this room knows somebody who’s gaming the system.”
He also said, “Over half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts. Join the club. Who doesn’t get a little anxious for work every day and their back hurts?”
Besides being incredibly insensitive to the suffering many Americans go through in regards to mental or physical health problems, Sen. Paul is also royally full of it.
According to the Social Security Administration, otherwise known to Sen. Paul as the big, bad entitlement group in Washington, D.C., anxiety is classified as a mental disorder. As such, it’s grouped in with other unspecified mental disorders, all of which combined make up a measly 3.8 percent of all ?disability cases.
Under the umbrella term of “anxiety” also falls post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly referred to as PTSD, an affliction found most commonly in soldiers returning from combat. Way to support our troops, Rand.
Congress can barely be described as “working.” Sen. Paul likely doesn’t understand that labor-intensive jobs exist. For example, steel workers, construction workers and railroad workers all experience heavy trauma and strain on their backs.
According to, again, that big, bad Social Security Administration, back pain is classified as a musculoskeletal disease, which covers amputations, joint issues, leg and arm fractures, spine disorders and burns. Popping an aspirin and laying down for a minute won’t solve your missing leg, crushed vertebrae or third degree burn problems, Senator.
These workers account for 30.5 perfect of disability cases in 2013. Sen. Paul’s ignorance isn’t his own fault, necessarily. He may be blinded by the ignorance of his own party, which has fought to cut Social Security with blindingly toxic reforms for years.
Leading this charge includes such wonderful hypocrites as Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, who collected survivor’s benefits from his father’s Social Security to pay for college.
All in all, Sen. Paul should stick to what he knows best — reading “Green Eggs & Ham” to filibuster nominees, legislation and progress in this ?country.
Until then, he should leave the disabled alone and pick on someone his own size.
ajguenth@indiana.edu
