Social Security and a Solemn Commitment?

I almost choked the other night.
I was watching the news, and there is Ted Kennedy telling us that we can't fool around with social security reform because Franklin Roosevelt had given the people a "solemn commitment". Then the news anchor explains that the truth actually is that the social security trust fund has a surplus that will last for another 30-40 years.

I couldn't believe it!

I think it works like this; The government collects money from your paycheck, then it puts the money in the SS Trust fund where it is invested in U.S. government bonds which pay interest. The interest is paid by the government back into the fund which is held by the government. Then the government gives the money to someone else who probably will take more out of the fund than they put in. If I ran my finances the way the government does, I would be put in jail for fraud.
Before we had social security, we managed to look after each other pretty well. Children took care of their aging parents. Churches took care of widows and orphans. We cared for our neighbors more. It was not ideal , but for the most part, people made do.
Now Social Security is seen as a substitute for managing your own finances to provide for yourself. Wouldn't it be better if we were a little more independent?

Back to Mr. "solemn commitment";

During JFK's inauguration speech on 1961, didn't John F. Kennedy say;
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

Here is Ted Kennedy's answer to his brother's "solemn commitment" to defend liberty.
"This misguided war in Iraq has distracted us from the real war we must win and made that war harder to win, because even as we combat terror, it has left America more and more isolated in the world,"
That's the war we must really be fighting, the war to be liked by our more enlightened overseas friends.

I don't know about you, but when Germany and France protest our policies, it tells me we are probably going in the right direction.