REPEAT AFTER ME:

Social Security and Medicare are NOT "Entitlements"! We PAID for them.

Social Security and Medicare are NOT "Entitlements"! We PAID for them.

Social Security and Medicare are NOT "Entitlements"! We PAID for them.

WE HAVE ALL THE RECEIPTS TOO!

@morethanmySLE we are, in fact, entitled to M & M because we paid for them. Rs would rather define them as welfare.
@morethanmySLE We are entitled to them because we paid for them. That's why they are entitlements. That's what entitlement actually means. Like if you've paid off your car, you get the title. You are entitled to use what you've paid for.
@marymessall @morethanmySLE True but the farR uses the word entitlements colloquially to mean gifts NOT earned. The belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or *special treatment. Both your definition & theirs are actual dictionary definitions but the most commonly used and the one used to by the RW is the pejorative one.
@Pineywoozle @morethanmySLE Okay but Soc Sec and Medicare are literally categorized as "entitlement programs." And what that means is that Congress cannot cut their funding. That money is not "discretionary" -- it cannot be spent or cut at Congress's discretion -- beneficiaries are entitled to those funds by virtue of having already paid into the system. And in the phrase "entitlement program" the word "entitlement" is used according to the definition I mentioned.
@marymessall @morethanmySLE I know but that’s not what he’s addressing. He’s addressing the way republicans are using the word as propaganda in their run up to gutting it.
@Pineywoozle @morethanmySLE If we give in and use the right wing definition of "entitlement" then they will point at all of the official documents classifying social security & Medicare as entitlement programs and say that PROVES these are unearned benefits for lazy people. When actually they have just proved they don't understand the use of that word in context. It means the money in those programs is our money, not Congress's. We ARE entitled to those funds.
@marymessall @morethanmySLE The argument is sound but they have spent years cementing the use of the word in their crack pot constituents ears. It’s not a battle of words you’ll win. We win this battle by keeping them out of control.
@Pineywoozle @morethanmySLE Agreed. I'm just saying it's not great to go around insisting that they're not entitlements. They literally, officially, are entitlements. Saying they aren't is false. It's just that the word doesn't mean what some people think it means.
@morethanmySLE technically, they both fall under the “insurance” category which is why it baffles me R’s want to slash them so badly. I mean, they LOVE paying exorbitant amounts of money on health insurance, what’s another couple of “policies” going to matter 😂

@morethanmySLE

Alternative wording: "You're fucking right we're entitled to them, we paid for them!"

@morethanmySLE

Have paid into SS for 56 years. Receiving it for 12 yrs. Medicare for 9 years.

Ending them? Send me my money back.

@morethanmySLE

Bu, bu, but what about bootstrap capitalism and selfish made men and, and, and...

The basic 3 year old child principle of "Mine! Mine! Mine!"

They can see a lot of money that isn't theirs and they feel entitled to it.