The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
David Evans lives in Aroostook County, and has over 15 years of experience in the military and federal service as a policy writer. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect those of the Department of Defense or any other government agency.
It’s time to stop calling it “Social Security.”
This isn’t welfare. It’s not a handout. It’s not “free money.” It’s something far more powerful — and far more misunderstood. Social Security is an earned benefit, paid for over a lifetime of work, paycheck after paycheck, by nearly every American.
So why are we still using a name that sounds like a vague government program from the 1930s? Let’s be clear and call it what it is: The American Worker’s Disability and Retirement Trust.
Yes, it’s a mouthful, but in a world oversaturated with vague language and misinformation, clarity matters. This isn’t charity. It’s an insurance program, funded by workers and employers, designed to protect against poverty in retirement, after injury, or following the loss of a family breadwinner. It’s a contract. A promise. Paid for by you — and owed to you.
This isn’t about branding. It’s about correcting a fundamental misunderstanding that’s persisted for decades. Too many Americans still think Social Security is some kind of government gift. That confusion opens the door for political scare tactics, sloppy policy, and constant warnings of “bankruptcy.”
Let’s set the record straight. The program is not going bankrupt. Even if Congress does nothing, by the mid-2030s, Social Security will still be able to pay about 80 percent of promised benefits. That’s a shortfall, but it’s not collapse. It’s solvable. What we need is political will, and a population that understands the value of what they’ve earned.
We also need to fix how we track these earned benefits.
The Social Security number was designed to monitor contributions and benefits, not to serve as a universal ID for banks, landlords, employers, or internet forms. Today, it’s one of the easiest tools for identity theft.
Let’s reclassify it for what it truly is: a benefits tracking number. It should be used exclusively to record what you’ve paid in and what you’re owed. Not as a master key to your personal life.
There’s another fix that’s long overdue: modernizing how the trust is funded.
In 1983, 90 percent of all U.S. wages were subject to Social Security taxes. Today, that figure has dropped to 82 percent — because income above a certain threshold ($168,600 in 2024) isn’t taxed for Social Security at all. That means a nurse in Bangor pays the tax on every dollar she earns all year long, while a hedge fund manager in Manhattan may stop paying by mid-February.
That’s not sustainable. And it’s not fair.
Lifting or eliminating the wage cap would restore solvency to the trust fund without cutting benefits or raising the retirement age. The fix is simple — if Congress can stop bickering long enough to act.
But none of these reforms will happen until we rethink what this program really is: a self-funded, worker-owned trust. Not a luxury. Not an option. Not a burden. A system of mutual protection, built on earned dignity and shared responsibility.
So let’s start with the name. Let’s return the fund to what it was always meant to be. These may seem like small changes, but they could fundamentally reshape how Americans understand, value, and defend what they’ve earned.
We don’t need to reinvent the system — we just need to stop turning it into something it’s not.
