Your Opinion: Response to Thompson

Mike Barnhill

Ashland

Dear Editor:

My opinion concerning the use of the words "assassination" and "provocation" were recently disputed Jan. 17, 2020, by Mr. Curtis Thompson. I next attempted to explain my dictionary understanding of the words and how they were used in an article not printed. While Mr. Thompson may still not agree with my use of the two works, I must give him credit for an article regarding the meaning of Social Security. His use of the description repeated below certainly met my standards of what something was intended to accomplish.

"Social Security was created to supplement people in their retirement, not be there retirement. It was to be one leg of the three-legged stool of retirement, along with personal savings and assistance from family."

However, I might suggest the third leg of "family assistance" be replaced with "live within your means." Because you never know how long you'll live and often the family members are in worse shape than yourself and can't be depended upon.

The information provided was very helpful in understanding the problems created by previous administrations. The final decisions confronting Social Security will probably never be totally solved. Each political party will use it to control partisan opinion and votes. Social Security will act as pendulum in a clock, swinging in extreme to either side and only being equal in swing for a brief micro-second.

In summary, I will not always be in total agreement with the many opinions given in the News Tribune. But reading them widens my view of both the problems and suggested remedies to solve them. Reading and listening to others may help all of us in making "America Really Great Again" rather than just a political slogan.