For as long as I can see backward over the years, music was IT for me.

When I was young, older ones all KNEW what was good for me -- they always said. If my plans for the future were my own ideas, those were not seen as worthwhile. Fighting to follow my own path became the norm for a few years. Happily, I was able to do that with only some small (but real) damage done to us ALL.

Somehow, it worked out and I was able to follow the road of a singer of American folk songs and ballads until I wasn't able to do it any more.

And that is why we need Social Security not to be tampered with and degraded. KNOWING IT WOULD BE THERE pretty much allowed me the social security to do what I loved for a living. And knowing it'd be there in the end is what gave me the willingness and vision to keep on paying into it.

Art Thieme