Boyd: The Time is Now to Address the Social Security Issue

BOW, NH — I am disturbed with the rhetoric coming out of the 2016 election. It’s not the pandering and mudslinging that I detest, but the failure to focus on an issue that will impact us all: the future of Social Security. A 2014 AARP fact sheet details that one in five Granite Staters receives Social Security, that three out of ten of our citizens rely on Social Security for all of their income, and that those benefits lift 68,000 retirees from poverty.

Beyond the statistics, I can say that Social Security has had a direct impact on my life. I lost my father to an illness in the mid 1950’s, leaving my mother with three children all under the age of 10. That monthly Social Security check kept the family intact until our younger sister could attend elementary school, allowing our mother to return to the profession she loved: Teaching. For six years, our family depended on those checks, with the benefits enabling all of us to attend college. My siblings and I are now accomplished members of society, but I don’t think that would have been possible without Social Security.

The Social Security Trustees Report is clear: failure to address shortfalls will mean a 25 percent cut for future retirees. Our candidates should not side step this issue, but should work together to strengthen Social Security for generations to come. Like my own family, individuals across New Hampshire and throughout the country are depending on our leaders to take a stand for a stronger Social Security - please don’t fail us.

Marc A. Boyd is the volunteer state president of AARP New Hampshire and lives in Bow.