If there’s one thing that Republicans and Democrats can agree on, it’s that the Social Security system needs to be fixed. The differences rest on how we go about doing this. There are some crazy ideas floating around about how to pull it off, but John Kasich may have just taken the cake: the elderly need to set up tent cities.
Kasich: Set Up Tent Cities To Fix Social Security
Ohio governor John Kasich is a long shot for the Republican nomination. At current count, he’s over 300 delegates behind Ted Cruz. Donald Trump, on the other hand, is currently trouncing Kasich by around 600 delegates. This is bad news for the governor, but it also gives him the opportunity to suggest a few crazy ideas.
Crazy ideas such senior citizens camping out in Washington D.C. to fix Social Security. The comment came during a campaign stop in Burlington, WI. Across town, Donald Trump was holding his own rally of insanity. It’s unlikely, though, that he said anything comparable to Kasich on Social Security.
“You can’t just go down there and say [fix Social Security]. You are going to have to create a tent city… You are going to have to occupy D.C. Here is what you are going to demand: ‘You Republicans and you Democrats — fix this. And we’re not leaving until you fix it. And you’re going to do it together, because one party cannot fix Social Security.’”
Full John Kasich Video
You’ll notice Kasich is talking directly at the red-shirt wearing members of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).
In all honesty, the most basic part of his suggestion has merit: people need to demand a bipartisan fix for Social Security. Where Kasich goes off the rails is his method of implementation. Instead of offering ideas of how he, as president, would fix the system, he suggests elderly individuals should sleep in tents in the cold D.C. weather.
Keep in mind that the minimal retirement age to receive Social Security benefits is 62. And while we’re at it, let’s point out that the low temperatures in Washington D.C. this week reach a bone-chilling 31 degrees. Maybe, though, Kasich was just tired from a late night rally in Milwaukee. Maybe he somehow forgot that those who need social security are elderly. No such luck:
“Kasich’s idea for a tent city was hatched at an earlier town hall in Burlington, about a half-hour southwest of Milwaukee, after he noticed red-shirted AARP members who attend many presidential candidates’ events and push for them to address Social Security.”
So Kasich, old enough to collect Social Security benefits himself, looked squarely at a group of senior citizens from AARP and decided that sleeping outside in tents – in a city that reached 5 degrees Fahrenheit in 2015 – was an appropriate solution for America’s Social Security problem.
John Kasich is arguably – if not certifiably – the only sane individual left in the 2016 Republican presidential race. So when you think about it, the smartest Republican in the room just suggested fixing Social Security by making senior citizens sleep outside in the cold. Sadly, that’s probably the best idea the GOP will manage to to the senior citizens of AARP.
