I Want to Opt Out of Social Security

I know how to fix Social Security. Let individuals opt out.

The system's accrued liabilities exceed its assets, so the typical person is clearly a net expense. Ipso facto, if people are allowed to opt out of the system, they'll improve the financial strength of the system they leave behind.

People like me, who morally object to Social Security, will be free of it.

I suspect this option would be popular with lots of other people, too. The self-employed, who bear the system's full taxation directly. The poor, who urgently need that payroll tax money today, not decades in the future. The young, who see Social Security for the Ponzi scheme it is. People with lower expected lifespans, who would be unlikely to cash in on Social Security anyway.

If you want to stay in the existing system, you can. That's fine. I want the option to leave; no one's going to push anybody out.

I'll give up all future claim to Social Security benefits in exchange for being exempt from all future Social Security taxes. I'll take full personal responsibility for providing for my own retirement. I'll forfeit everything I've paid into Social Security already. (The employer portion of the taxes should, of course, also be zero for people who have opted out. That money would become take-home pay, albeit with some adjustment for income tax.)

I just wrote my congressional representatives about this possibility. I can't figure out why this isn't being shouted from the rooftops. What obstacle would politically kill this straightforward, freedom-enhancing reform?

P.S., I've gotten busy again so I'll be on blogging hiatus until the weekend.

UPDATE 2005-08-22 03:35:53 UTC: If you found this old article through a search engine, be aware that I've written a whole lot more about opting out of Social Security.