"I think if we are actually going to accept our generation's responsibility, that's going to mean that we give our children no less retirement security than we inherited from our parents"
About this Quote
Carol Moseley Braun frames retirement security as an intergenerational promise rather than a private, go-it-alone pursuit. The measure of a responsible generation, she suggests, is whether it sustains at least the level of security its parents secured for it. That standard points to a civic obligation: the social compact created by the New Deal and strengthened over decades should not be eroded by complacency, short-term politics, or market-only solutions.
Her words draw on a moment when debates over Social Security privatization and pension reform ran hot. As a senator in the 1990s and later a presidential candidate, Moseley Braun often warned that shifting risk from institutions to individuals would leave many Americans exposed. The shift from defined-benefit pensions to 401(k)-style plans, rising health care costs, longer lifespans, and an increasingly precarious labor market all threaten to make retirement a privilege rather than a widespread expectation. If a previous generation built a floor under old age, she argues, it is not progress to lower that floor or to let it crack.
There is also a justice dimension implicit in her appeal. Women and people of color, whom Moseley Braun represented and often advocated for, have historically faced lower lifetime earnings, interrupted careers, and less access to employer pensions. Ensuring their children receive no less security than their grandparents is not merely fiscal housekeeping; it is a test of whether shared prosperity truly includes everyone.
Accepting responsibility therefore means more than preserving a single program. It means maintaining the political will to finance a reliable safety net, updating it to match modern work patterns, and distributing risks fairly between individuals, employers, and the state. The promise to future retirees is not nostalgia for a bygone era; it is a commitment to continuity in the face of demographic and economic change, a refusal to balance budgets or market volatility on the backs of the elderly and their children.
Her words draw on a moment when debates over Social Security privatization and pension reform ran hot. As a senator in the 1990s and later a presidential candidate, Moseley Braun often warned that shifting risk from institutions to individuals would leave many Americans exposed. The shift from defined-benefit pensions to 401(k)-style plans, rising health care costs, longer lifespans, and an increasingly precarious labor market all threaten to make retirement a privilege rather than a widespread expectation. If a previous generation built a floor under old age, she argues, it is not progress to lower that floor or to let it crack.
There is also a justice dimension implicit in her appeal. Women and people of color, whom Moseley Braun represented and often advocated for, have historically faced lower lifetime earnings, interrupted careers, and less access to employer pensions. Ensuring their children receive no less security than their grandparents is not merely fiscal housekeeping; it is a test of whether shared prosperity truly includes everyone.
Accepting responsibility therefore means more than preserving a single program. It means maintaining the political will to finance a reliable safety net, updating it to match modern work patterns, and distributing risks fairly between individuals, employers, and the state. The promise to future retirees is not nostalgia for a bygone era; it is a commitment to continuity in the face of demographic and economic change, a refusal to balance budgets or market volatility on the backs of the elderly and their children.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
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