It's A Gray Area: Set yourself free from government interference

Then we should allow people to make various choices, depending upon their age and the "investments" they have made into the Social Security system. For example, all people now younger than 30 would simply be placed out of the system, and enabled to set up whatever private system they choose from this moment forward. In addition, anyone older than 30 who so chooses would also be entitled to opt out of the Social Security system for a one-time payment based upon a prescribed formula. And other people, depending upon their ages, could opt to stay in the system completely and receive the "promised" benefits when they reach age 70, or stop additional payments, and receive reduced benefits at 70, in addition to whatever other benefits they arrange for themselves privately.

But superseding all of this must be the understanding that we are adults, and that the government is not our parent. If some people want to have additional money to spend now, and pay for it by continuing to work late into their 70s, they should be able to make that choice. Furthermore, government should not have the ability to take our money from us, pool it in whatever manner it wishes, and give it back to us when and in whatever amounts it decides.

For example, during their terms of office, both Presidents Nixon and Johnson actually decided that Social Security benefits would be increased. Of course, this action gave those two presidents a major political boost, but the added payments to the recipients had no basis in fiscal prudence.

So now we are paying the price of the past lies and politics. But because we do not have the ability of never having implemented the Social Security system in the first place, or abolishing the system yesterday, all we can do is begin to abolish it now. That is Henderson's and my position.

Of course this is a complicated issue, and I have not been able to do it justice in this short allotted space. But if you would like to see more justification for this position and many more that are critically important for our great country, you could not make a better decision than choosing to read Henderson's "The Joy of Freedom." Henderson is right, freedom literally is a joy — and it also works — and his book could revolutionize your thinking and our world!

JAMES P. GRAY is a retired judge of the Orange County Superior Court, the author of "A Voter's Handbook: Effective Solutions to America's Problems" (the Forum Press, 2010), and can be contacted at JimPGray@sbcglobal.net or http://www.JudgeJimGray.com.